Heartless Affection
by Invisiblegirl3
Summary: "So we have a deal?" "Nothing personal, by the way." James added quickly. "We can t envolve personally feelings in here, otherwise things will get messy. It s all good business." Sirius smiled. "Naturally. All good business." Disclaimer: Yet again, I m not J.K. Rowling; I don t own Harry Potter.
1. Chapter 1

"Pass it, Worms."

"Get your own chocolate frogs!" Peter whined, but unfortunately he wasn`t quick enough to block James` grab for the bag.

James threw a frog high into the air. "You need to work on your reflexes, mate." he noted, catching the sweet in his mouth. James waited for applause, but Peter was mad and Remus was reading, so he took another frog and listened to the hiss of the train.

"Maybe you should play seeker this year, James. Your reflexes seem sharp enough."

"Why would I leave the high speed action of a chaser just to stare off into space and pray to find a tiny gold ball? Stuart might have been a boss captain, but I`m inheriting his title, not his position."

"You wouldn`t be that good at it anyway, unless they let you catch it with your big mouth." Noted Remus from behind his textbook, which earned him a frog to the head.

The compartment door flew open and was quickly slammed shut. There was a short fumbling with a wand, which ended at the harsh whisper of "Colloportus!"

Sirius Black leaned panting against the door, his body bracing the door shut. His hair was wild as usual, and black scorch marks covered his clothes and face.

"Chipmunks don`t like Ravenclaw girls." He observed offhand to his unconcerned friends.

He flinched at the loud footsteps, and held back the door as many fists pounded from the other side. The four could hear muttering and curses, but Sirius was able to hold the compartment shut even when the lock clicked open.

"He`s not in here! We`re changing!" Remus called, not looking up from the page.

Several persistent fists continued pounding, but eventually they subsided. Sirius relaxed and spread out on the bench next to Remus, resting the heels of his crossed legs atop the open textbook.

"Want some of my chocolate frogs?" James reached for more.

Sirius put out his hands and caught some. "You don`t need to even ask."

Peter pouted. "They`re my frogs, and you didn`t ask."

"You see Wormtail; we are always teaching you life lessons. Today`s lesson is generosity."

"I offered you and Moons frogs when I got on and you refused!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Tomorrow's lesson should be not complaining so much."

"Speaking of not complaining, guess who`s the new Gryffindor Quiddich Captain?"

"Could it be the twat who`s been talking and writing about it constantly all summer?"

"Or the one who has been signing his letters 'Captain James Potter'?"

"I thought it was the one who ran around his house in his pajamas singing when he got that official letter from McGonagall."

"I wasn`t singing! I was chanting merrily." James muttered. "There`s a difference."

"Did you hear about those dragons on the loose during the summer?" Remus said, his eyes finally leaving his textbook.

"What? How does that have anything to do with James being a twat?"

"I got a letter from Hagrid…"

"-Leave it to Moony to write to the teachers-"

"…and apparently some dragons came down from the north and nested in the forest over the summer."

"Awesome!"

"Not awesome. Before the Ministry could remove them, they attacked the school."

"Even more awesome!"

"No… The only part of the school that was damaged was the Quiddich pitch."

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" James cried, falling off of the bench in agony. "WHY?! WHY ME? WHY NOW?!"

"How long is it going to take to fix?"

"At least two months." Remus said, "All the dragons were safely removed, but it could take a while to rebuild everything and grow back the grass."

James let out an inhuman moan.

"What are we going to do with all that spare time?" Sirius asked.

"Homework?" Proposed Remus hopefully.

"Laugh at things Moony suggests and eat heartily until we burst?"

"I don`t even have a girlfriend at the moment." Sirius complained.

"Can we talk about, for a second, how insane it is that for once _Moony_ has a girlfriend while the elusive Sirius Black is single?" James chimed in.

"It won`t last Padfoot, you have every girl in the school falling at your feet."

"If that were only true." Sirius sighed, picturing himself king of Hogwarts.

"Really? Name one girl who isn`t falling at your feet."

"Too easy."

Remus looked up again "…That doesn`t play or announce Quiddich or have a boyfriend."

Sirius glanced out the window at the sea of wizards on the platform. "Uhhmmmmm….."

Suddenly, a spark of red caught his eye and he smiled triumphantly. "Evans."

"Please. You could make her tumble head over heels in love by the end of the month if you wanted to."

"I don`t know about that. James knows better than any of us that Lily isn`t easy." Remus reminded them, raising an eyebrow conspiratorially. "Maybe she`s immune."

"Don`t take this personally, Prongsie, but you just don`t have my level of tact and mastery when it comes to birds."

"Didn`t you put seaweed in Jenna`s bed second year to get her to talk to you?"

"Not my best work, but it did the job, didn`t it? Anyway, I could have Evans completely into me by October, tops."

"A wager, gentleman?" Peter said, eyes alight, "Who wants to bet against the world renowned Sirius Black?"

"Five galleons says he can`t make her fall in love before the first Quiddich Game."

"Thirty." James declared. "I tried for years, mate. No way can you win this in the time it takes to rebuild the pitch."

"Clarification, is this thirty between the two of us or thirty each?" Remus asked tentatively, "Because I don`t have thirty to loose, unlike some of us."

Peter pause for a moment before responding, "Between the two of you, and if we win, Sirius and I get to split the profits, and if we lose, we`ll split the payment."

"So we have a deal?"

"Nothing personal, by the way." James added quickly. "We can`t evolve personally feelings in here, otherwise things will get messy. It`s all good business."

Sirius smiled. "Naturally. All good business."

"Marauder swear on it?"

All four boys pointed their wands in the middle of the compartment, and chanted in unison, "I solemnly swear I`m up to no good."

Outside, the train whistled eerily, as if on cue.

"Let the game begin." Sirius declared, leaning back in his seat.


	2. Chapter 2

Lily Evans was, at that very moment, sitting alone at the back of the train.

_Flip. Flip. Flip._

She pretended to read. Where could Alice be? How long does it take to find three wild fourth years?

_Flip. Flip. Flip. Flip. _

_Tap tap tap. _

Lily jumped. Her friends never knocked…

"Hello?" She tentatively opened the compartment door to find a boy standing outside, his black hair classily unclean. "Oh, hi Sev. What are you doing back here?"

"I forgot to give this to you in the park the other day. It`s really interesting, and it helped me a lot in potions last year." Severus handed her the heavy black book that she`d seen him carrying about constantly last term.

"The art of the perfect potion. Cool! Thanks tons, I was looking for a guide like this!"

"You`re welcome," He grinned, "I`ve got to go. See you around?"

"Most definitely." Lily beamed. Severus` smile faded as he retreated down the hallway, leaving Lily alone again in her empty carriage.

_Flip. Flip. Flip._

Lily played the page game with the new book, until a chapter on stirring caught her eye. In the back of her mind, she tried to think of what could possibly be keeping her friends so long.

Suddenly, the compartment door opened with a loud thud. "Took you long enough." Lily muttered, not looking up.

"You`ve been waiting for me, Evans?"

Lily dropped Sev`s book in surprise. Quickly, though, the surprise turned to disgust. "Not in a million years, Black. Get out."

"Did you have a lovely summer?"

"Get. Out."

"Why would I do that? You look so lonely in here. I`m only trying to keep you company." He sat down in the seat opposite Lily, appraising the room. "Where are all your friends?"

"They`re coming, thanks for your concern." Lily said, her tone not at all thankful. "Now get out before I call pest control."

"Who?"

"it`s a muggle- never mind."

"Reading already? This looks advanced," Sirius plucked Severus` book up from where it had fallen, inspecting it. "-and insanely boring."

"You have ten seconds to give me that back before I start screaming, and keep screaming until a prefect or head shows up, and then I`ll tell them what you tried to do to me."

He dropped the book into her hands. "All I`m doing is socializing with my fellow housemate."

"That`s not what it will say in the report." Lily raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, you win. Well played, Evans, well played." Sirius stood and raised his hands in defeat. "I just have one request."

"What is it?" She asked tiredly.

"Don`t cry too much when I`m gone. Remember me as I am now, Evans. With you." He whispered in her ear quickly, pulling away before she had time to react or break his face. She had just enough time to smell the faint sent of gunpowder on him before he was gone, and Lily Evans was yet again alone, left behind with an enormous book and the fleeting smell of explosives.

"Idiot." She muttered, rolling her eyes and talking her seat.

Lily didn`t even have time to start reading before a third figure with wild black hair entered her compartment. This one dove in, taking cover behind Lily.

"What are…"

"-Check the hall! Quickly!" Lily was pushed to the door. "Do you see any Ravenclaws?"

"No…?"

"Good." Mattie said, relaxing. She released Lily and took a seat, still gripping her wand tightly. Her black hair was barley contained in its braid, not like Mattie cared.

"Where are the others?"

"We ransacked by a pack of wild Ravenclaw girls thirsty for Sirius` blood. Even when we swore we didn't know where he was, they tried to use us to track him. Alice and Mary were taken up the train, and I hexed the girls left with Mel and I. We got separated at the food trolley. Come on, I need you to help me go back for them."

"What is this, a war zone?"

"You obviously have never met this particular gang of pissed off Ravenclaw girls. It`s Amanda`s group. They`re worse than Slytherins when they`re mad, and twice as smart. I only hope I`m able to find a way to rescue our innocent friends."

"I saw Sirius just a minute ago, actually…"

"Shhh! They might be listening! Come on, we have to go." Mattie leapt up and dragged Lily out of the compartment. "You and I might be able to reason with them, since they are Ravenclaw…"

Lily`s compartment stood empty for the rest of the train ride, until the five tired yet victorious girls returned for their luggage.


	3. Chapter 3

"First years, this way!"

"Everyone off, come along now…"

"I forgot my wand on the train!"

"…My brother`s getting sorted. He`s a definite Hufflepuff."

"Oi, wait up!"

The young wizards and witches of Hogwarts piled off the train with the usual start of term hustle and bustle. The first years were whisked away on boats, leaving the older students to find their own transportation up to the castle.

"Come on, by the time we get off there won`t be any magic carriages left!" Whined James, impatient as usual.

"They`re Thestral carriages." Remus reminded him. "Not magic carriages, Thestral-pulled carriages."

"It`s basically the same thing, invisible horses or not, the carriage still is pulled along by nothing and it`s AWESOME!"

"Technically, it`s only seemingly pulled by nothing…"

"Not interesting. Hurry!" The four boys barreled off the platform and down to the path, where less than ten "magic" carriages left unoccupied.

Unfortunately, while there was less than fifteen carriages left, there was still thirty or so students milling around, all wanting to get on said carriages.

"Where are you going?" called a familiar voice behind the boys. Sirius stood on his toes to see over the crowd to where Alice Prewitt and her gang of Gryffindor girls sat. She was looking across the mass at Lily, who was sprinting back to the platform.

"I left something on the seat!" Lily yelled back over her shoulder at her friends, who were disparately trying to hold the carriage for her, even thought it was next in line to leave.

The carriage behind Lily`s friends, full of what looked to be angry Ravenclaw girls, were demanding to stop the hold up.

"My friend will be right back…" Alice tried to reason, but there was no keeping down the might of the five hungry, unhappy Ravenclaws.

One of them leaned forward out of the carriage and shouted, "Excuse me, but some of us would like to get to dinner sometime soon!"

"Can you wait just a-" Mattie was cut off as their carriage began to pull away from the station and towards the gates. "No! Lily!"

The people waiting behind them in the lineup cheered. Meanwhile, Lily was nowhere to be seen, probably back on the train.

"Oi, look at this, we got a carriage to ourselves!" Three of the Marauders climbed in the third-to-last cart in the line, exchanging high-fives in honor of their luck. James` girlfriend at the moment, Madeline, managed to hop in the cart with them, much to James` delight.

"You four go ahead." Sirius said, looking over his shoulder. "I think I`d rather take the last cart back…Who knows who I will have to sit with?" He climbed in and winked as his best mates pulled away with the others.

"What`s he up to?" Madeline whispered. She was a Hufflepuff, but unlike most of James` previous girlfriends, she was no fool.

* * *

Lily dashed onto the only cart left, shoving Sev`s book into her bag. It was a good thing she`d remembered it at the last second, otherwise she`d have lost it within hours of him giving it to her. As the carriage took off, Lily plopped her bag down next to her on the seat.

"Ooph."

Lily jumped, and every molecule of her stood on edge as she flicked her head to see who she`d just clobbered with her bag. "Oh, it`s you."

"What, no 'I`m so happy to see you', or even a 'how was your summer, by the way, sorry I didn`t ask earlier'?"

She snatched her bag back.

"What was so important that you needed to run all the way back to the train for?" Sirius asked, putting his feet up on the railing in front of them.

Lily started off at the Black lake and all the first years floating across it. The lanterns on their boats were like stars against the inky water. She hoped they had a better crossing than she had her first year. Lily shivered at the memory of her own shrieks when the giant squid had risen up. Stupid Potter. He just had to drop the dung bombs in the lake.

"Silent treatment, eh?"

"You`re not worth the aggravation."

"Oooh, harsh."

"Not as harsh as you are to Severus." She quipped, unable to hold back with her better judgment.

"Fair point. How is he? Did you two have some nice chats over the summer?"

"What`s your game, Black?" Lily sneered, glaring.

"My game? Well, currently I`m trying very hard not to be my usual prat self."

"It`s not working."

"Maybe because you won`t give me a chance. I`m trying my best. I learned a few things over the summer."

"Really. Are you, Sirius Black, actually repenting right now?" She asked skeptically.

"Not repenting. Adjusting, evolving."

"And you want me to give you a second chance."

"Word around Hogwarts is that you are a very forgiving person, Evans. Besides, I heard from Mattie that you want to be a prefect next year, and prefects are all about second chances."

Lily was quite for a moment. This could be an interesting opportunity, if he played her cards right and hoped it didn't backfire. "I don`t think either of those things are true, but I`m willing to believe you`ve changed on one condition."

"Name it."

"You and your cronies stop harassing Severus."

"I can`t speak for the others, since they are not under my control as they are free people, but I will hold back."

"Also, you can`t call him names anymore."

"That`s two conditions."

"Take it or leave it, Black."

"Fine."

The wind howled around them. Lily tried to ignore the chills on her arms, but Sirius saw the goose bumps.

"Do you want my jacket?"

"No, I`m fine."

"You don`t look it."

Lily didn`t meet his eyes, because she could tell he was staring at her.

"What?" She finally snapped. So much for second chances.

"You still haven`t asked."

"Asked what, Black?"

"How my summer was. I asked you, and a person usually asks people whom they do not despise how their summer went."

Lily sighed. "Alright. How was your summer, Black?"

"It sucked, thanks for asking."

Lily spun around, finally facing him without looking daggers. "Why?"

"Let`s just say my family and I don`t agree on most aspects of my life."

"What, they won`t let you get a tattoo or motorbike?"

"No, actually they were wondering why I won`t go out muggle hunting with the other pureblood boys my age. Also, why I had to disgrace the family by being sorted into Gryffindor, with all the muggleborns , blood traitors, and riffraff."

She was quiet as they pulled through the gates.

"I`m sorry."

Sirius laughed quietly to himself, shaking his head. "Me too, Evans."

"My name is Lily."

"I know."

"I mean, you can call me Lily."

"Oh…Okay. Thanks, Lils."

Lily scrunched up her nose. "Watch it, mister. Don`t cross any lines right after I just gave you a second chance."

"I wouldn`t dare." Sirius winked playfully and made a quick escape into the school before Lily could process what he had said and react accordingly.

As she climbed out of the carriage and walked up to the school where her friends were waiting, Lily wondered why, if Sirius was trying to be a better person, he still smelled faintly of gunpowder.


	4. Chapter 4

Four days into the new term, the entire Gryffindor girl`s dorms woke up to the bloodcurdling scream of Mary McDonald.

Three of the girls in Mary`s dorm leaped from their beds at their roommate`s cry, wands at the ready.

From the next room over, a third year squealed. "RATS!"

"Niffers, actually!" Melody called back helpfully.

Alice brushed off her bed and stood on it. "Egh, they`ve gotten into our trunks. Does anyone know a spell for this?"

"Kettleburn never prepared us for this one." Mary noted, shacking the furry vermin off of her and her sheets. "Do something fast, these things breed like rabbits."

Lily quickly surveyed the damage. Niffers were everywhere, from sticking out of the trunks to hanging from the brass curtain rods. There were at least a hundred on the floor alone. Alice, Mary, and Lily`s trunks were knocked over, shiny items dragged out of them and spread all over the room. Mattie was still inexplicably sound asleep, covered by a lump of covers. Niffers dotted atop her small mound of blankets, and not even a hair of the sleeping girl was visible.

"Lumos." Lily said, in a vain attempt to pied-piper the creatures out of the room. Eleven of them gravitated towards her, but the others were too busy with other shiny things that they paid Lily no mind.

"We`re gonna be late for breakfast," noted Mary. "I wonder if we`ll even be able to get downstairs…"

Alice hopped to the door and swung it open to reveal the hallway was in the same state as their room, only with more distressed Gryffindor girls. Marlene and Emmeline were using Emmeline`s pillow to push the niffers out of the way as they trekked down the hall.

"What enemies have any of us made this early in the year?" Emmeline asked Alice while Marline helped de-niffer a first year that had fallen.

"Mmmrrrderrrss." Mumbled the apparently awake Mattie from under her dome of blankets.

Melody looked confused. "No, we haven`t murdered anyone yet this year, they wouldn`t be getting revenge yet. Unless they can time travel."

The covers parted and niffers flew off the bed at all angles, revealing Mattie with her atrociously dynamic bed head. "We`ve been Marauded."

"This is an early start for them."

"Lils, I thought you said they`d repented!"

"One of the niffers stole my lucky earrings! I`m going to strangle those boys one by one."

"What is all this ruckus, ladies?" the voice of Professor McGonagall echoed down the hall.

Melody lifted a niffer off her head. "We`ve been Marauded, Professor!" she called.

"It just had to be niffers." Lily muttered.

Mary grabbed as many books off her nightstand as she could and hopped over niffers on her way out the door. "We have to get out of here."

"Agreed."

"That means get out of bed, lazybones." Mel tossed a pillow at her best friend. Mattie groaned, letting it smack her in the face before she heaved herself up and out of the bed, taking several blankets wrapped around her like fluffy cloaks.

McGonagall appeared in the doorway, ushering several sixth years in bathrobes downstairs. She herself was in a royal red robe, her hair up in pins, but she was retaining as much composure and dignity as ever. "This way, everyone. Keep from stepping on the niffers as best you can. Orderly and swiftly, ladies, please don`t dilly-dally now."

Alice was already in the common room by the time Mary and Mattie trudged carefully out of the dorm. Lily battled her way out with Mel, a fellow red head. The bright reflection of the rising sun off their hair was starting to attract the niffers even more.

Lily wasn`t surprised to find almost all of the Gryffindor boys in the common room when she arrived, obviously tipped off that something was going on. Apparently, most of the girls had been so distracted by the niffers, they had forgotten to grab blankets or bathrobes. Those of that group who were wearing pajamas on the revealing side of things, like Vanessa Peters and Penelope Gordon, were shivering and trying as best they could to not draw attention to themselves.

Fortunately for the now awake Matilda Bell, this meant a business opportunity.

"Penelope, right? You look cold. Would you like to buy a temporary share of one of the blankets I brought down? It`s only one galleon, and you don`t have to pay me now. Hattie, come buy a share. Marlene, you look cold…"

"Can I get a discount for your teammate?" Vanessa batted her eyelashes.

"Fine, you can owe me one enormous favor to be redeemed whenever and where ever I choose. Deal?"

"Done." Vanessa closed the deal right as another wave of boys came down the stairs. Lily groaned when she saw that group contained the four gloating prats responsible for this mess. Suddenly feeling self-conscious in her summer short-shorts pajama bottoms, she cursed herself for not bringing a wand.

When the four boys sauntered over, Lily strategically ducked behind Alice.

"Lily?" a small voice behind her asked, making her jump. "What are you doing?"

It was only Frank Longbottom. "N-niffers." She stammered, momentarily disoriented. "There are thousands of niffers in the dorms."

"Yeah, so I`ve gathered. But why are you crouching behind Alice?"

"Are there any in your dorm?" Lily asked, pretending she hadn`t heard.

"No, the Marauders aren`t very big on pranking themselves."

"So it was them!" Lily muttered.

Frank nodded, inching away slowly. "You didn`t hear it from me."

She winked in response. McGonagall came down the stairs from the girls dorms, doing her serious business fast walk. Behind her, the niffers seemed unable to come down the stairs. It almost looked like there was a spell keeping them from passing a certain point.

Lily had no idea what the exact time was, but the sun was on the verge of peaking over the trees, which meant it was almost breakfast time. School would be starting soon… would the girls even be going to classes? Of course they would, a couple thousand niffers wouldn`t stop that. But how would they get their textbooks, homework, quills, wands…

"Nice legs, Evans."

Lily flinched. "Potter."

"I mean it; you should wear those shorts around more often."

She rolled her eyes with a huff. "Mats!"

"What can I do for you?" Mattie called back, standing on her toes so she could see Lily over the heads of her customers.

"I`ll take one of those blankets now."

"No can do, Lils. It`s full up until breakfast. Do you want the next open slot after that?"

Lily groaned in disappointment, and her anguish only increase at the sight of James Potter`s overlarge grin in her peripheral vision.

"That`s alright. I`ll manage, thanks."

"If you want a blanket, I`ve got one up in my dorm you could use, Evans. Just say the word."

"Go jump in the lake."

"We could go together, on a little swim. You`d like that, wouldn`t you?"

"Oi, Prongsie, Pete`s looking for you upstairs. Something to do with that project you and Moons were working on…"

The taller boy was gone in a flash, leaving Lily alone with, and strangely thankful to for the first time in the history of ever, the one and only Sirius Black.

He leaned on the arm of a chair a second year was sleeping in, taking in the chaos of teachers desperately trying to control the niffer situation. "Pete`s not upstairs looking for James."

"Oh. Thank you, I guess."

Sirius nodded, his eyes still wandering the room.

"Why did you lie?"

"To James? Uh, I thought you would like a break from the harassment."

"No, no, the other day when you said you were trying to start over. Have you really forgotten so soon?"

"Huh? I haven`t forgotten… What do you mean I lied?"

Lily scoffed. "I'd hardly call this making a better start."

"The Niffers? I didn`t do that, I swear. You can tell this is a Prongs Plan by the fact that he failed to think ahead. When good old Minnie McGee comes looking for culprits, the first people she`ll question is the four students in the school with the biggest track record of things like this. See, if I had been involved, Frank Longbottom would go to McGonagall and inform her that none of his roommates left the room last night, and that he is a very light sleeper. Sure, it would cost a galleon or two, but it`s better than detention."

"It`s good to hear that you have some brains, at least."

"Would you mind telling that to the teachers?" He joked. "They all think I was dropped on my head, especially Slughorn."

"I didn`t know you were that bad at Potions."

"Oh, I`m pretty bad, but he`s mostly just hostile because I`m in Gryffindor, so he treats me like I`m a squib or something, just like my mum does."

"I`m so sorry."

"It probably doesn`t help that I get consistently terrible grades in Sluggy`s class."

"If you want…" Lily faltered for a second. What was she doing? Her schedule was super paced, practically overflowing. Then again, her homework was currently being chewed to bits by furry little creatures. "I could maybe tutor you, just to prove Slughorn wrong."

He sat up slightly, turning his head at her in an odd angle. "Seriously?"

"Siriusly, Black." She suppressed a smile, but his grin took over his face. "Whenever you`re free."

"Well, it looks like James, Pete, and Lupin will be in detention at least once this week, so do you think you can pencil me in then?"

"I think I can manage."

"Great." He winked, and Lily felt someone tap her on the back.

Elizabeth Connolly, Lily`s role model (besides McGonagall and Dumbledore) cleared her throat. "If you need any robes or a hairbrush from your dorm, Flitwick is summoning things down for any girls who had to be evacuated. After you make yourself presentable, please go down to breakfast. Don`t worry about any books or papers you might need for class."

"Okay, thank you so much!" Lily said, staring up at the head girl, who simply nodded and continued on to the next huddle of students.

"Not worry about our books?" said Mary, whom Lily had forgotten was there. "What`s that supposed to mean?"

"Only bad things." Lily replied.

Melody laughed, shaking her head, and put a hand reassuringly on her friend`s shoulder. "Oh Lils, there is only good things! No classes, possible adventure, definite food! I bet there will even be Belgian waffles and bacon to 'comfort' us poor victims."

"Robes first, girls!" Elizabeth called at Mel over the crowd. Lily was swept away in the stampede, and failed to notice Sirius had disappeared long before Mary had expressed her worry over the books.

* * *

"You sure you don`t want to take any credit on this one, mate? Personally, I think it`s our best welcome back yet." The boys exchanged high-fives quietly, all not eager to be overheard, but all for different reasons.

"Come on, we`ll have even bigger things, we`ve got three years left. I have this awe-inspiring idea…but I`ll get to that. If you three are fine taking the detentions on your own, I`d like to stay out of this."

"What`s a couple detentions?"

"That`s the spirit, Moony!"

"Now let`s go get us some breakfast."

"Hold a moment troops."

"What could be more important than food, Padfoot?"

"I thought you always thought with your stomach."

"Have you gone and grown a brain on us, Black?"

"Gentleman! We shall have our breakfasts, just please hear me out for a moment."

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I think he`s trying to be dramatic."

Remus Lupin, as usual, was all to right.

Sirius cleared his throat.

"You are all free the next few weekends, I presume?"

"Where did you learn the word 'presume'?"

"Of course we are. It`s not like there`s Quiddich." James grumbled.

"Excellent. Get ready, men. We are going to hold the first annual Marauder Extravaganza."

"What`s that?"

"A party to end all parties."

"YES! Tonight, we par-ty!"

"Not tonight, but right before the pitch is finished. That night can be the deadline for the bet too."

"No fair! What if Evans is a lightweight?"

"Lily wouldn`t drink."

"How would you know?"

"Anyway, we should probably start smuggling in supplies now…"

"I`ll get the cloak! Hogsmeade, here we come."

"…In the meantime, men, not a word."

"Naturally."


	5. Chapter 5

The thing about Niffers is, they breed like crazy.

Anyone who even paid the slightest attention to Silvanus Kettleburn knew so.

Minerva McGonagall soon learned, as she looked upon the naive wide eyes of the Gryffindor Girls, that nobody had listened the days the Care Of Magical Creatures professor had shown them the gold-loving fur balls.

"Four days?" a girl in the back shouted. "How long does it take to accio those suckers out of there?"

Minerva sighed. It was days like this she wondered why she had ever wanted to be a school teacher. "The summoning charm is not always precise and accurate with its subjects, so it is not necessarily safe or reliable to simply summon them out. The Ministry is sending in a clean-up crew as soon as they can, but yes, it will take at _least _four days_._ Until the rooms have been restored, I regret to inform you that you will have to sleep in the common room."

"I call the big lion couch!"

"Why can`t we just sleep in some of the spare classrooms?"

"There`s no privacy down here!"

"I don`t wanna sleep in the same room as Janie, she snores!"

"Girls!" Elizabeth said, startling everyone, including McGonagall. "The teachers are doing everything they can for this to work out well for us! It`s clearly not their fault, so please don`t take your anger out on poor the poor Professor here."

"Thank you, Ms. Connolly. Please continue with your evening activities, and kindly stay out of the way of the Ministry workers." The professor and the head girl left the common room, and everyone else was too shocked to move.

When she was sure the two were out of earshot, Melody jumped up on the coffee table. "While it is clearly not the fault of the teachers that our dorm has been trashed, I think we all know who is really to blame."

"Oh boy." Mattie whispered to Alice, shaking her head. "Remus really shouldn`t have joked with her earlier about how nobody ever gets good revenge on the Mauraders."

Angry muttering erupted from the crowd as they cursed the names under their breath.

"This is quite a mean thing to do to your own housemates, isn`t it?" Mel shouted from her soapbox of a coffee table.

The mutters rose to a rumble.

"If I recall correctly, this isn`t the first time they have done something to some of us!"

The rumble turned to a roar.

"Do you think we should do something about this?"

"Let`s hex `em!" someone suggested.

"No, string them up by their ankles to the astronomy tower!"

"Tie them up and leave them in the Forbidden Forest."

"_Drop_ `em off the astronomy tower!"

"Chop them up and feed them to a hippogriff!"

"These are all _very good ideas_!" Melody interjected, "But it`s too bad all of the delinquents are not all going to be at one location _very soon_ where we can be waiting to ambush them…."

Mel pretended to think while the mob around her cheered, having caught on.

"That`s right folks! Let`s head on down to wait for the Mr.'s Potter, Pettigrew, and Lupin to get out of detention so we can show our _extreme _appreciation for what they`ve done!"

In a matter of seconds, every single Gryffindor Girl had charged down out of the common room.

Lily Evans was among the crowd, wand at the ready and flames in her eyes. As the girls barreled down the halls in a destructive mob, they picked up more and more people, and not just Gryffindors or girls, but anyone and everyone the Marauders as a whole had directly or indirectly scorned (which is to say, pretty much the entire school).

Passing through a hall that led to the dungeons, Lily spotted Severus, and managed to get his attention before she was swept away in the sea of revenge. "Sev! Come quick, we`re beating up Potter!"

Lily got pushed around a lot in the rush to the boy`s detention room. Eventually, she wound up on the outside as they turned a corner, and she was bumped against a suit of armor she could have sworn wasn`t there before.

She lost her balance, and almost fell backwards onto the castle floor. Lily would have, too, and earned herself a bruised elbow, had the suit of armor not reached out and caught her.

"You`re literally my knight in shining armor." Lily said in amazement as the suit helped her to her feet. Passersby paid Lily and her enchanted savior no notice, their eyes on a bigger prize.

"Is that so?" The knight replied, and a dark peach color slowly crept over Lily`s face. She jumped out of the knight`s arms.

"Black?" She turned away for a moment, and when she looked back she was laughing. "What are you doing hiding in a suit of armor?"

"There`s a witch hunt afoot, if you haven`t noticed. I heard you all shouting for blood and quickly disguised myself."

"Why did you blow your cover, then?"

"I had to save a damsel in distress; I am a knight in shining armor after all, and a Gryffindor at that."

Lily unsuccessfully hid her blushing behind a snarky comment, as usual. "What`s keeping me from calling the hunt over here to rip you to shreds?"

"You promised to help me in potions, remember? Defying Slughorn and all that, yeah? Well, I can`t stir a caldron if I`m dismembered. Also, aren`t we supposed to be friends?"

Sighing, Lily rolled her eyes in disappointment. "Alright. I guess you can keep your appendages for the time being. How do you know the word dismembered, anyway?"

"When you`ve transfigured Mrs. Norris as many times as I have, you really learn a lot of fancy threatening words." Sirius mused. "Speaking of defying Slughorn, would now be a good time for you to teach me how to pass potions?"

Lily looked longingly down the hall, from where shouts and screams from the mob`s victims were now audible. "Well, I`d be missing a great burning at the stake…"

"Pleeeease Evans? Don`t leave me alone or they`ll find me eventually and break all of my bones slowly and painfully!"

"Don`t make me get my hopes up now…." Sirius, Lily noticed, had strangely convincing puppy dog eyes. "Fine. Let`s go, but take off that ridiculous suit of armor! Everyone who wants to kill you is already flaying your best friends alive, so you should be safe for now."

Sirius ignored her, hooking Lily`s arm through his. He looked like the Tin Man from one of Lily`s favorite childhood muggle film as they skipped down the now not mobbed hall to the common room.

* * *

**A/N: From now on, there will be a chapter of this posted every Monday for the rest of the summer. This story will be about fifteen or more chapters long, so it will go into September a bit, and I will probably keep up the Monday posting until the story is over.**

**Oh, and the chapters will start to get longer towards the end as the action increases... and it will be increasing significantly from here. If you think the niffers were bad... you`re in for a big shock.**


	6. Chapter 6

"Make way!"

Sirius, who had dropped Lily`s arm after insisting on helping her into the common room, looked around in amazement. "I guess we won`t be doing potions in here."

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Lily didn`t take her eyes off of the Ministry workers, teachers and even some house elves with blankets milling about the Gryffindor Common room. The Ministry had finally arrived to deal with the niffer infestation, but the teachers must have just started to set up the girl`s beds when they arrived.

"Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, move aside. Oi, Mr. Walking Tin Can and the young lady with you, kindly move out of the way of the flying cages! I don`t want to have to file another incident report."

Sirius scowled after the Ministry worker. "It`s a suit of armor!"

"Don`t." Lily said, holding him back.

"Where are you supposed to teach me to pass potions with all these mattresses and rubbish flying about?"

Lily tried to hide her grin at the thought of getting out of tutoring the supposedly unteachable Sirius Black. She`d been hoping something like this would happen… "Sorry Black, I guess we can`t-"

Sirius snapped his fingers. "My dorm! Perfect, come along Lily." He turned to block his smug smile from Lily`s view, and led the way up the stairs. He couldn`t have planned it better if he`d tried.

In her four years as a Hogwarts student, Lily Evans had never been in the boy`s dorms. She`d almost been, when some of her roommates were going through their ninja phase, but Lily`d chickened out.

It was emptier than she`d expected. The room, architecturally the twin of the girl`s, had the same beds, curtains, nightstands, and dressers, but to Lily, the Marauder's room was the polar opposite of hers (before the nifflers, anyway).

Lily didn`t notice how much wall space her friends took up, but the difference was now clear and startling. On the large wall facing the windows where Lily was used to seeing a plentifully colorful assortment of posters featuring mostly the Spellbound Sisters and Logan Rockwood (courtesy of Alice, long time reader of _Witch Weekly_), there was only one Quiddich poster and a sad, faded Gryffindor banner. The girl`s room was always a constant battle between order and chaos, but here that war was lost long ago. Lily had to push clothes (who`s, she was not certain) out of the way with her foot to create a path for herself across the minefield of a floor.

"Do you have the caldron?" Sirius asked, oblivious to her attempts to not to step on the robes.

"Yeah, I shrink one down and carry it about with me just in case I ever need to give a quick demonstration of my superb skills."

"Good point. Alright then, Moony`s got to have his potions stuff here somewhere…" He started digging through the trunk at the end of the neatest bed (not saying much, as none of the beds were even made, much to Lily`s disgust), throwing things out and around the room.

She walked over behind him, about to suggest a neater method of looking, when Sirius flung his hand into the air in victory, accidentally smacking her in the face with a sock. "Found `em!"

"Do you have a flat surface we can put the caldron on, preferably somewhere not covered in your dirty t-shirts?"

"Sure, we can use…no wait; Wormy lit that on fire last week… Can you help me get this armor off?"

"How in Merlin`s name did you even get that on?"

"Desperation, really. When you hear a mob of people stomping down the hall, bellowing your name, you tend to quickly jump into whatever`s closest."

"Don't you know of any close hidden passages?" Lily asked, peeling off the metal from his arm.

Sirius shook his head, letting the helmet falling off. "The only one in that hall was on the other side of the mob."

Once all of the bits of armor had been removed from Sirius, the duo proceeded to set up the potions kit and caldron without an incident. When Lily started dictation directions from the potions book, she was shocked to see Sirius was actually listening and not goofing off. Besides the occasional war chants or shouts of terror from outside the window, the next hour was quiet. Half way though, Lily was beginning to wonder if Sirius had been replaced with a diligent evil twin.

Eventually the sun went down, but neither Lily nor Sirius noticed until Frank came in to shower.

"What`s on your face?" Lily asked.

He touched his finger to his cheek and sampled the goo. "Melon. Weren't you two at the riot?"

Sirius shook his head. "I`m not a big fan of being burned at the stake."

"Good point. Well, you missed a great show. Some girls levitated Lupin, Potter, and Pettigrew upside-down outside the school and everyone took turns chucking stuff at them. I got in a few good shots myself." He said proudly before tripping over the armor Sirius had left lying all over the floor.

Holding back laughter, Lily said, "Don`t ask."

"Oh, I stopped asking long ago." Replied Frank, slouching off to the bathroom.

Lily looked outside finally. "I should go."

They stood, Sirius gazing out the window at something over her shoulder as he agreed. "Probably. Thanks for helping me."

She left, descending into the common room, where all the beds had finally been set up. Lily was putting away her wand when she heard a noise behind her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Sitting."

"Get off my bed."

"Last time I checked, this was the Gryffindor common room, which makes this a common Gryffindor bed. I am a Gryffindor."

"You`ve got a bed upstairs, where you should be."

"Nice night, isn`t it?" Sirius commented, looking out the window.

"Go away before I have to hex you."

"Hmm, I wonder what the head girl would think if you hexed a poor student who was just trying to relax in the common room."

Lily began to turn pink. "What do you want, Black?"

"I saw torchlights down by the lake. Looks like something fun`s going on."

"No."

"Killjoy."

"I don`t like the lake."

"Weren't you lounging down there yesterday with your friends at lunch?"

"Can you go away now?"

"I`d love to go down by the lake with a certain ginger, but I could also just lay here alllll night…."

"Mel`s a ginger, go find her."

"This bed is just so delightfully comfy."

"_Fine. _Enough blackmail, I`ll come."

"Great! I`ll go get the firewisky, and we`ll be on our way!"

"Sirius…!"

"Yes, Lilykins?"

She glared, and he winked playfully. "No firewisky."

"What if it`s already down there?" Sirius asked, a wicked glint in his eye.

"Urg. You`re already giving me a headache. Let`s get this over with."

* * *

**A/N: In reply to the anonymous review on my last chapter, I`m glad you`re liking the story so far! Again, sorry the chapters so far have been a little short, but things are going to heat up very fast in the next few chapters; chapter eight is twice as large as this one.**


	7. Chapter 7

Five figures jumped in the torchlight at the loud crunch of leaves behind them. Four of them had their wands drawn and ready before they even saw the outline of the two people descending from the darkness to the edge of the lake. All of them relaxed, though, at the unprecedented sight of Lily Evans and Sirius Black sneaking out together to join the midnight lakeside gathering.

"So the dog finally shows up." James laughed, shaking his head. "Where were you while we were being publically tortured?"

Sirius laughed, patting his friend on the back as he entered the group. "I doubt melon feels like the Cruciatus."

"You should`ve seen `em once they were let down, it was a proper mess." Piped in Remus` Ravenclaw girlfriend, Ariana. "Practically every female in my house was looking for you, Black. They said something about a chipmunk…"

Madeline arched an eyebrow, brushing her bangs away from obstructing her perfect face. "It took twelve different cleaning charms to get all that off you, I swear."

James draped an arm around her shoulders. "It was worth it though, right?" Madeline whispered something into his ear, and he smiled.

"Who`d you bring with you, Black? Come on into the light, O mysterious person."

" Lily Evans, right? I didn`t think you were the kind of girl to hang around with this crowd." Ariana smiled and elbowed Remus to do the same. "I`m Ariana Clarkson."

Madeline jumped in before Lily could reply. "Oh, and I`m Madeline, James` girlfriend. What house are you in?"

Lily ignored the question, trying not to back away. "I know who you are."

"What brings a girl like you down here so late?" James asked crossing his arms.

"You know Lily, she just loves a party." Sirius came to her rescue. Lily glared at him anyway, since it was his fault she was being interrogated in the first place.

"It`s such a warm night." noted Remus, suttelly changing the subject. "Perfect weather for swimming."

"Yes!"

Madeline wrinkled her nose. "Isn`t there a giant squid in there somewhere?"

"Psh. He never hurt anyone."

"Um, what about in first year when-"

"Nobody died! It was totally safe!" Sirius pointed out, cutting of Ariana.

"What do you say, ladies? Would either of you care to take a midnight dip?"

"Are you joking? There`s algae and gunk in there. No thank you."

"Ana?"

"I`ll pass."

Just as Lily, who had been looking on from the shadows during the banter, began to wonder why she`d been invited down in the first place, Peter turned to Lily and asked "Are you coming in?"

Madeline let out a breath of ill-concealed laughter.

"What?" demanded Lily, feeling her shyness fade.

"Nothing, it`s just-aren't you supposed to be too docile and sensible to do something like that?"

"Apparently." Lily flashed a sarcastically sweet smile.

Peter looked between them nervously. "Is that a yes or a no?"

"That`s a 'Merlin yes'."

The boys smiled, and Madeline narrowed her eyes.

"You know what? Me too." Ariana chimed in. She and Lily quickly ran into the woods to change into their bathing suits.

When they came out, the Marauders went into the woods to change. From behind the bushes and trees, they could make out the dancing figures of the girls in the torchlight down at the beach.

"So how`s the reform movement going?" James asked snarkily, once the girls were out of earshot.

"I swear, in just a few more days, that girl will be head over heels with me."

Remus rolled his eyes, but the others couldn`t see due to the blackness that engulfed them. "Do you even know her? Evans is never 'head over heels' over anything, except maybe a perfect mark on a test. Remember that boy she went on dates to Hogsmeade with?"

"You mean the dates we always crashed?"

"Yeah, good times…anyway, she was with Connor for five months and they were never that serious. I doubt you can change her mind in the next few weeks."

"Moony, Moony, Moony, you always seem to forget that I _am_ Sirius." As the boys emerged from the forest, Sirius patted his friend on the back. "Don`t doubt my skills, mate. And never-" he turned to James and Peter "… bet against me."

"Ack!" Ariana shrieked from down by the lake. "It`s chilly!"

They could barely make out Madeline mumble "… and disgusting."

"Make way!" Peter barreled down onto the sand, charging the water like a Spartan running into battle. It would have looked more heroic however, if his foot had not caught on Lily`s discarded shoe, sending him tumbling to the ground and sliding into the lake with a tremendous splash.

Lily put her hands up to block the ice cold wave. "Pete!"

"Peter Pile!" Sirius bellowed and the three dry Marauders dove down onto the friend.

"It`s not so bad in here."

"Not so bad? It`s as cold as Filch`s heart!"

"Filch has a heart?"

"Prongs, where`s your glasses?"

"Uh, on my…wait…." James flicked water out of his hair and looked nervously around him, as if they`d be floating conveniently next to him.

Ariana`s eyes lit up. "Oooh, there they are!"

Remus` girlfriend lunged underwater, moments later popping back up with the glasses, which were slightly cracked from their fall. "Sorry, they`re a bit broken."

"Psh, that`s nothing a good 'reparo' can`t fix."

"Speaking of repair, I have an idea about how you guys can get the scorned students of Hogwarts to forgive us."

"Padfoot, please tell me it doesn`t involve any more fruit. I was hit with more rotten apples than I can count today."

"Are fermented apples okay?"

Lily`s eyes widened. "Oh no, definitely not. McGonagall would never allow…"

"_We`re hosting a party! We`re hosting a party!_" Remus picked up his girlfriend and spun her around.

James patted Sirius on the back. "Brill, Padfoot. Your solution to everything is a party. This is why we`re best friends."

"When`s it going to be?"

"Thursday night." Sirius declared, "The Gryffindor common room will be the host to the first party of the year, a 'Pardon Our Sins' party."

"You`re naming it?"

"Every good party needs a name."

"What about the first annual Marauder Extravaganza?" Peter`s slip of the tongue would have cost him and his friends all of their planning and secrecy, had anyone heard him over the cheers and splashes.

As the girls splashed ashore to Madeline to tell her the news, the Marauders huddled up.

"Excellent, now we`ve got a test run."

"A pre-party!"

"Set your party levels to moderate, men."

"Next time though, we`re pulling out all the stops."

James and Peter high-fived each other, but Remus was confused. "Padfoot, what happened to your motto?"

"Which one? 'The fun`s only just begun when you get kicked out'?"

"What about 'no good decisions get made sober'?"

"My favorite is 'once you`ve gone Black, you`ll never go back'."

Remus shook his head. "No, no. 'Never forget, never surrender, never apologize, and never look back'."

"Moons, you know me too well. Let`s just say that while it seems that repenting is the way into Evan`s heart, we will be doing quite a lot of 'apologizing'."

"So we`re not genuinely sorry?"

"Did you feel genuinely sorry the first time we blew up Filch`s supply closet and McGonagall made us apologize?"

"Oh."

"Exactly."

Lily, meanwhile, was inspecting a fern by the lakeside that she suspected to be gillyweed, unaware that she was being watched.

"Why do you think Sirius invited her along?" Madeline whispered.

Ariana drew a star in the sand. "He must like her, I suppose."

"Guys like Sirius Black don`t 'just like' girls like Lily Evans. You know him, if he really liked her, he`d be in full flirt mode, and she`d be falling at his feet. There`s got to be something more. Besides, it`s _Lily Evans_. He could do so much better."

"I don`t think Lily falls for the usual flirty stuff. James used to ask her out and flirt with her all the time, and she never went head over heels for any of that."

Madeline sniffed. "Anyway, it`s such a bull excuse for her to be here. She`s got to be up to something."

"If you say so."


	8. Chapter 8

Alice, Lily, and Melody returned to the common room after Thursday`s Transfiguration lesson to something everyone had just about lost hope that they`d ever see again.

The usual circle of furniture surrounded the flickering fire, and several first year boys were playing chess on the floor. But the girls didn`t see that, and they didn`t seem to care about anything that was in the common room. They cared about what was finally out.

"Am I hallucinating or…"

"They`re gone, the beds have finally been removed ! This does mean we get to sleep back upstairs, right? It`s not a trick?"

"Yes! Privacy!"

"It`s about time. Without walls, Marlene`s snores sound like the Hogwarts Express."

"_Marlene`s_ snoring….mmhmm...right..."

"If it`s not Marlene, then who is it?" Alice asked as the girls ascended the stairs to their dorm.

"You know Linda…the fifth year one…?"

"No way! Quiet Chaser Linda? Who`da thought…"

"I know, right? I was talking to Rina the other day about missing the dorms, and she said that every girl in her room sleeps wearing noise-concealing headph-"

Why Rina and her roommates used noise-concealing headphones, Lily and Mel didn`t find out and instantly didn`t care. Alice closed her gaping mouth, forgetting what she was talking about instantly.

"Oh." Melody whispered softly, summing up what the other girls didn`t have the words to say.

The trio entered the room that used to be their dorm, and silently surveyed the damage.

The niffers were gone; that much was resolved. In their place was the dirty footprints of the many Ministry worker`s boots that had trod through their room, purging it of the creatures. All of the mess the niffers had created by ransacking the girl`s things for shiny objects was still there, and Lily couldn`t tell if the curtains and bed sheets pulled down and strewn across the floor was the work of niffers or Ministry workers.

On each bed was a small pile of boxes and a note. The boxes differed from bed to bed, but the note was consistent.

Melody, the only one brave enough to touch the crime scene, picked up the note gingerly and read it aloud to the others.

"Dear students," she began, not allowing her voice to quaver. "The Ministry wishes to inform you that the keeping of animals, magical or otherwise, in school dorms without the knowledge or consent of the headmaster is dangerous and could lead to disaster. New provisions are being put in place to prevent a repetition of an infestation. We are sorry for any inconvenience the extermination procedure may have caused you, and any items that were broken in the procedural operation are being replaced. Have a safe school year!"

Lily lightly flipped a ripped sheet of trampled parchment over with her foot. Half of the oldest Spellbound Sister`s face gaped up at her with a shocked expression, her severed hand reaching for the other half of her face. On the wall, the other half of the witch mirrored the motion. Alice just stared at her wall of beaten posters, probably dreading telling her dad that the signed posters he`d pulled a lot of strings to get for her were ruined. Something told Lily that the long boxes on Alice`s bed didn`t contain specially signed posters like the ones she`d had up before. Alice didn`t see her dad very much, because he was one of the top aurors, so even though it was childish and materialistic, she`d been proud of her wall.

"This is a bit dangerous." Alice said finally, picking up a jagged piece of broken glass. "We should probably start clearing the rubble out of we want our room to be nonhazardous by the weekend."

Melody took out her wand and started levitating the broken glass into a garbage bin, and Mary surveyed the destruction again, hands on hips. "This could take a while."

"Looks like we won`t be going to that party tonight." Sighed Alice.

* * *

A half hour before the "Pardon Our Sins" party kickoff, the four Marauders were running around the Gryffindor common room like beheaded chickens.

"Lift up that banner a tad higher, will you?!"

"Tables this way, over here…"

"Who`s got the cooler?"

"Elizabeth, calm down! It`s just butterbeer in there! Here, try some."

"Lupin, Frank needs you over by the fire."

"No, not that bag, it`s full of balloons!"

The first year that was pulverized by exploding latex was completely fine after a trip to the hospital wing, and he returned in time to finish the preparations.

Meanwhile, Sirius was outside reasoning with the Fat Lady when Lily walked out.

"Can you please just open without a password for seven hours?"

"You are asking me to allow non-Gryffindors inside the sacred walls of Gryffindor!"

"Have you ever been through the French chief portrait by the kitchens?"

"No, I hardly ever leave my post. I have a job to do, you know."

Sirius brushed his long hair back and smiled his sly Marauder smile that made its victims feel a mix of fear and youthful exhilaration. "I could pull a couple of strings and have the chief bring up you and Violet some wine. It`s been _ages _since you two had a proper party."

"Well… I can`t let you allow just anyone in…"

"Of course not! That would be madness. Only let in people with either the password, or one of these." Sirius flashed a small one-sided card with 'Forgive and forget?' printed in bold, with a fancy M stamped in the lower right-hand corner.

"I suppose…"

"Brilliant, th…"

"Sirius, what are you doing?"

He whirled around, almost bumping into Lily, who was standing behind him, carrying what appeared to be several empty trash bags.

"Nothing illegal."

"Would Elizabeth agree with that statement?"

Sirius leaned up against the wall, raising one eyebrow. "She`s inside right now, making sure everything`s within reason. You could ask her, but it might get in the way."

"Centaur hooves." Lily sighed, knowing fighting with Sirius Black was like trying to use a ruler to measure the depth of an ocean. You were going to run out of patience (and air) eventually, so sometimes it wasn`t even worth trying.

"Have a nice evening." The Fat Lady said merrily. Lily stepped in the portrait hole without a word, which was uncharacteristically gloomy of her.

Sirius had to sprint briefly to catch up with Lily`s violent pace. "Problem, Lily blossom?"

She let out a brief laugh. "Yeah, first off, never call me that again."

"How come you`re not upstairs getting ready for the party? I thought girls took hours to get dressed."

"Stereotypical, much? Anyway, I`m not going to the party."

"Why not? Haven`t Potter and I done millions of things we never apologized for?"

"Technically, _you_ apologized for them already this year."

"I didn`t apologize about the Blackmail from yesterday."

"Look Black, even if I wanted to go, I couldn`t. My roommates and I have to clean up the mess from _someone`s_ most recent prank." Lily started up the stairs.

"Your dorm is still a mess from that?"

"You think I`m carrying these garbage bags for my own enjoyment?"

A stunned Sirius was left alone amiss the party prep people as Lily disappeared up the stairs.

* * *

Six and a half minutes later, there was a knock on Lily`s dorm room door.

"Not it!" Melody and Mattie shouted at the same time from opposite ends of the room.

"Mary`s closest." Alice said, setting a picture frame that had no glass back on her nightstand.

From her position half-crammed under her bed, Mary protested. "My legs are stuck. Besides, it`s Mattie`s turn."

"No, I gave Mel my bacon yesterday in exchange for her taking my turn."

The knocking grew louder.

Mel kept her finger at the tip of her nose. "Nose goes. I already called 'not it'."

"Not it!"

"Not it!"

"Come on!" Mary groaned, brushed the cobwebs out of her hair, and pulled her legs free. Hauling herself up, she answered the door.

"Can we come in?"

Sirius Black stood on the other side of the door with James and what looked to be the entire rest of Gryffindor house. Each of them had rubber gloves, a broom, a dustpan, a polishing cloth, a feather duster, or a garbage bag.

Mary was too shaken to say anything, choosing to step back and nod instead of waiting for her voice to return.

"When have you ever knocked before?" Alice asked, as if that was the oddest thing about the situation.

From her position atop the dressers, where she`d been attempting to rehang Alice`s posters, Melody called down, "How`d you get up here, anyway?"

Even though nobody had chosen to answer her friend's questions, Lily asked her own. "Who are all these people, and what are you doing?"

Sirius winked. "This is everyone who is trying out for the Gryffindor Quiddich team this year, and they`re here to help get you to a party."

All around them, the prospective Quiddich players leapt into action. Brooms were enchanted, feather dusters levitated, and items flew off the ground. Josh and Bradley Robins helped Melody down from the dresser. All the five residents had to do was occasionally identify where things went.

After what seemed like one mad instant, the dust settled and smoke cleared. Chaos came to a halt. What would have taken the five witches all night had been finished in ten minutes by the thirty possible Quiddich players.

"Who knew all it took for James Potter to could turn his team into house elves was the request of Sirius Black?"

* * *

"Thank you."

"Bye!"

"We really appreciate it."

One by one, the perspective Gryffindor Quiddich (or cleaning staff) team filed out, taking the supplies and trash with them.

"They did a pretty good job." Lily took in her newly refurbished dorm room. The curtains were rehung, the furniture was polished, and not a stray piece of parchment littered the floor.

"It`s a shame half of them won`t make it past the first week of tryouts." Sirius mused.

Lily put her hands on her hips in disbelief. "Why not?"

"Have you ever seen James coach? He`s a tyrant with a broom."

"It`ll be even worse now that he`s the actual coach." Mattie muttered. "Before, at least someone could stop him…"

"I can`t wait for the season to start." Said Alice with real longing in her eyes.

Sirius quickly changed the subject. "So, are you ladies going to get ready for that party, then?"

Mattie was the only one to notice this conversational diversion, as she was pretty much the only one generally unimpressed by putting on make-up (and she also hung out with the Marauders the most and knew Sirius with and his strange antics the best). While her four other roommates either gathered together party clothes or checked their appearance in the nearest reflective surface, she crossed her arms and asked him quietly, "Excited for the season to start, Black?"

"I don`t think I`m going" Lily said, looking up from her reflective surface of choice (a brass bookend), oblivious to the exchange that had just taken place.

Mary poked her head out of the wardrobe. "Why not?"

"Well, I`ve got nothing to wear and not enough time to get ready…"

"Lils, no offense, but that`s the most ridiculously pathetic excuse I`ve ever heard." Melody responded.

"There`s…"

"We`re witches. We go to a school of magic. I`m sure we can transfigure you something reasonable in the next…" she checked the clock, "…fifteen minutes."

"When you put it that way…"

"Stop being so dramatic. Black, I`m afraid we`re going to need you out of here if we`re gonna pull a Cinderella on Lily here." Alice said, ushering Sirius out the door. Lily gave him one last worried look before the door was slammed in his face.

Exactly seventeen minutes later, Mary tapped on the shoulder of Sirius Black.

"We ran a teeny bit late…"

All four Marauders turned just as Lily Evans descended the stairs.

"Lily…?" Remus said, almost as if it was a question.

Peter couldn`t keep from blurting out, "What did they do to you?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Well, she`s not terrible looking." James commented. Remus nodded in agreement, while Madeline arched and eyebrow.

Some onlooker yelled out, "Woooo!"

"That`s one way of putting it."

Alice was impressed with her handiwork. She`d managed to get the elusive Lily Evans into a dress, and a gorgeous one at that.

Lily kept her eyes locked on Alice and tried not to blush as red as her hair, which she was unable to hide behind, thanks to the messy bun Mary had put it in.

"Hey." Sirius said, meeting her at the bottom of the stairs. "You ready to party?"

She smiled, flicking the sign he wore around his neck that said 'My bad'. "You bet."

Her ironic wording was lost on Lily, but three of the Marauders exchanged a subtle glance. Sirius Black, a natural under pressure, fought the urge to look at his friends and instead followed Lily to the refreshment table.

* * *

Even though it was, in their terms, a moderate party, the marauders didn't do things half way.

There was a dart competition, food fight, and a minor brawl. The walls vibrated from the music, and at one point, balloons that spelled 'I`m sorry' dropped from the ceiling.

Due to Professor McGonagall being tipped off after the first hour and coming upstairs to shut them down ("Professor! Come to join us for a butterbeer?"), the partygoers had retreated to their respected houses. Most of the Gryffindors were crowded into the Marauder's dorm, crowding the beds and floors. Only Mary had chosen to retire to the dorm out of Lily`s roommates. Uncharacteristically, Lily had stayed strong throughout the party, and didn`t once feeling herself slip into her usual shy self. For once, she was getting along with the Marauders and the other social elites of Hogwarts. Lily felt like a more refined version of herself, almost like she was older or more mature. Gone was Perfect Bookish Lily, and from her ashes had risen Party Girl Lily.

"Four kings."

"B.S." Mattie said, easily calling James` bluff. She knew when he lied, it was extravagant. Plus, she could totally see though his casual act.

"Two threes."

"An ace."

Lily smiled, setting down half her hand. "Two sevens."

"Such a bad liar, Lillian. B.S." Sirius shook his head.

"Am I really that obvious? That`s not my name, by the way." She asked, picking up the cards.

"Three tens."

"Pair of fours."

"B.S."

"Ha, wrong-o, Mr. Pettigrew!"

"One two."

"B.S., Lupin. Why do you always make your lies so lame?"

"Three sevens and an ace."

"A five, a six, a seven, and an eight."

"B.S."

"Why do you always catch my lies?"

"Pair of queens."

"Four threes."

"Pair of eights."

"B.S."

"Gotcha, Black! Pick `em up." Lily smacked her cards down on the table, revealing a legitimate pair of eights.

Sirius shook his head, laughing as he picked up the deck. "Who knew Lily Evans new how to fake a tell?"

Mattie laughed and Lily smirked. "You doubt my skills, Black?" She put down her cards and stretched. "I`ll be right back, you can have some time to recover from that one."

"Nice work, Evans. Black needs to be taken down a peg once in a while." James said, as she stood up to go out in the hall to get a drink.

Lily nodded "Thanks."

She was still in shock from her first ever civil conversation with James Potter when she felt someone tap her shoulder, almost making her drop her cup.

"Madeline?"

The Hufflepuff widened her eyes in mock surprise, batting her eyelashes in flax innocence. "Lillian?"

"That`s not my name."

"This isn`t your scene, either. What are you doing here anyway?"

"I was invited…"

"Lily Evans has been invited to parties tons of times, but she`s never graced us with her presence. She`s always too busy ready or studying." Lily`s face reddened, and Madeline leaned in, making Lily flinch at the sting the other girl`s hot cinnamon breath on her face. "What I want to know is- what makes this time so different?"

"I decided I wanted to have fun, is that a crime?"

"Really. Who was it you wanted to have fun with? My boyfriend perhaps? Or-" She smirked and let out a breath of laughter, "Sirius Black, maybe? Because honey, you don`t stand a chance. You know what happens to people like you who try to have 'fun' with people like me, boys like them? We get bored, and you get broken. So a word of advice, sweetheart? Run while you have the chance."

A plastic cup hit the ground, splashing its contents all over Lily. But still, she didn`t run. She couldn`t run. Her legs were rooted to the spot, her eyes locked with Madeline`s. All of her spite and anger fueled her stare, and she didn`t let herself let go enough to cry.

"Hurry along now." Madeline said, the fake chipper tone returning to her voice. Only when the Marauder's dorm room dorm clicked shut behind her did Lily finally find the strength to move.

Perfect Bookish Lily finally took over, and she picked up the cup she`d dropped, not wanting to litter. Lily never littered. It was against her morals, even in times of distress.

She mechanically wiped the mess off the floor with a crumpled napkin someone had left on the floor, not looking up when the boy`s dorm room door opened again.

"Lily? The guys wanted to know if you were still playing…"

Lily felt a hand on her shoulder, but she didn`t stop wiping up the mess.

"Lily?"

It was Melody.

"Oh, Lily what`s wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You`re crying, Lils. What happened?" Melody put the sopping wet napkin into Lily`s cup and set it on top of the refreshment table.

"I don`t want her to see me like this. Please, I can`t go back in there looking like this and give her the satisfaction."

Melody put her arm around Lily`s shoulders and helped her up. "Do you know how to heal cuts?"

"Yeah. Why?" Lily sniffed, wiping her eyes.

After a deep breath, Melody knocked a glass bottle off the table. Before Lily could even shout in alarm, Melody used her bare hand to pick up the glass shards, closing her eyes and squeezing her hand before dropping the bloody glass.

"What in Merlin`s name is wrong with you?" Lily gasped, grabbing her friend`s torn hand.

Melody kept her breath steady. "Okay, I fell and now we`re going to get Mattie so she can help fix me up and help me back to the dorm. Let me do the talking."

"You`re insane."

"Maybe, but you`re not crying anymore, and this is the least painful way for you of getting you out of here."

"No it`s not!"

"Well, Mattie`s the planner and I make impulse decisions, so next time you want a logical approach, choose a different roommate." Melody joked, and opened the door.

James didn`t look up as they walked in "About bloody time!"

"Mel!" exclaimed Mattie, noticing the blood. "What did you do?"

"Somebody must have spilled something out there, and I slipped on it and fell. Unfortunately, I tried to grab onto something to stop me from falling, and stupidly reached for that glass bottle out there. Lily here managed to help me up without cutting myself up worse."

"I have my wand back in our room… Let`s go get you patched up. Lily, are you coming back with us?"

"Sure."

"Great. Bye guys, thanks for the awesome party!"

"Sorry about the mess." Melody added on the way out.

The Marauders nodded as they left. "I hope your hand heals fast!"

In the hall, Mattie inspected the scene of the crime. "The puddle isn`t that big. You must be getting really klutzy."

Jumping over the glass, Lily whispered, "It wasn`t an accident."

"What?" Mattie spun on her best friend, exchanged a glance, and then turned back to Lily. "What happened to you?"

"Me? She`s the one that`s bleeding."

"She`s also the one that pulls crazy stunts like this for friends in need."

"You know me too well." Mel winked.

Lily took a deep breath, and recited what had happened with Madeline using as little emotion in her voice as possible.

"Oh, Lily."

"Is it okay if I tell James?" Mattie asked as they descended into the common room.

"Why?"

"Because he deserves to know he`s dating an evil snake, and I know he`ll break up with her and you won`t have to deal with that again."

"Why would he break up with her for me?"

"Girlfriends come and go, but friends are forever, and any girlfriend that treats your friends like she treated you has got to go."

"But James and I aren`t friends."

"You`re housemates, and he`s friends with your friends. Mel, don`t touch that hand!"

"It`s fine, honestly, I just need to get this sliver of glass out. It was almost a clean cut, too."

"You`re going to kill yourself one day with these heroics, I swear." Mattie shook her head. The girls entered their dorm, being careful not to wake Mary. Mattie clicked on the small lamp between her and Mel`s beds, and used her wand to extract the remaining glass from the wound.

"Go get a towel from the bathroom," She directed Lily. "Run it under cold water."

While Lily hurried to the bathroom, Mattie took a bandage out of her trunk and put it on the bed next to her friend. "That was brave of you. You may have not done it in the way I would have thought to, but you did the right thing getting Lils out of there. Next time though, think it through for a few more seconds."

An oblivious Lily dashed over with the dripping towel moments later, and Mattie cleaned and wrapped the wound. Mary rolled over and opened her eyes, silently trying to figure out what had happened by listening to the hushed whispers of her friends. She was afraid to ask and interrupt the scene before her.

"Once it stops bleeding we can heal the skin. Lily, you are alright with me telling James about what Madeline said, right?"

"I don`t care." Lily lied quickly. She climbed into bed, passing Mary, who had closed her eyes in false slumber. "Where`s Alice?"

"I guess we`ll find out in the morning. I`m sure she`s fine, she has her wand and two years of karate."

"Oh, and Lils?" Mattie said, her hand hovering above the light switch.

"Hmm?"

The room flicked into darkness, but Mattie`s roommates knew her well enough not to need light to know what her facial expression was as she said, "Don`t worry about Madeline bothering you again. We`ll take care of her in the morning….I think it`s time for a little revenge."

That`s when Lily remembered; it was Mattie and Mel who`d rescued her, and they didn`t just hold your hair back while you hurled and gave you tissues to sob into. No, they got you out, and then they got even.


	10. Chapter 10

When Lily threw on her uniform the next morning and chucked books at her roommate's beds, she sensed something was off. Instead of the usual noises and bustle of the Friday morning, a strange vacant hush filled the room. Upon closer inspection, she discovered three of the beds were empty, and Alice`s was untouched from the night before. She collected her books and waited for Mary to finish getting her things together, wondering where sixty percent of her room had gone.

"Did you see them leave?"

"No, but you know what this means. Some unlucky villain is going to wake up with cockroaches in their bed this morning."

The night before came rushing back to Lily as they entered the common room, but she quickly forgot at the sight of her best friend passed out on the couch.

"Alice!"

"Shhh." She pressed her face into the couch cushion.

Lily knelt down and rubbed her best friend`s back gently. "Oh, what happened last night?"

"Long story. Stayed up too late, drank too much, and got too tired to go upstairs. Lily go away now so Alice can sleep."

Alice started to drift off again, and Mary murmured to Lily, "I`d guess she`s had four hours of sleep tops, just based upon her speech patterns… she`s obviously in no state to attend class."

Lily didn`t recognize the colorful blanket Alice was under as from the common room. "Where`d you get the blanket from?"

"Mattie and Mel." She replied, as if the duo were up with the house elves every morning. Her brain must not be totally awake yet.

"Okay, do you want me to bring you up breakfast?"

"Sure, tell the teachers I`m sick."

"Alright..." Although she was hesitant, Alice was the only person Lily was willing to lie to teachers for.

Saying goodbye to Alice, she followed Mary down to the Great Hall, where Mattie and Mel were already digging in, although both were unusually quiet.

"How`s the hand?" Lily started, but was cut off by the hurricane-like arrival of a certain Hufflepuff to their table.

Madeline was positively steaming out of her ears as she marched up. Her eyes were icy, and she was inexplicably wearing a red wig. "Mads," James said, grabbing her arm. "We need to talk."

"What`s with the tone, Jamesy? Did You-Know-Who attack the Quiddich pitch last night or something?" Madeline said, her voice sweet as cough syrup and her eyes never leaving Lily`s.

"Look, I don`t think we`re really going to work out anymore."

"Huh?" She snapped, as if his proposal blindsided her. "What in Merlin`s name sparked this? We were fine last night."

"I`m not fine with people who insult and threaten my housemates or friends."

"Oh my god." She rolled her eyes and snapped her gum. "Of course little Miss Lillian 'innocent in every way' Evans told you. She`s such a little snitch, can`t even take a little snap of truth thrown in her face. I can`t believe you`re taking her side without even consulting me to even hear by side of this whole thing!"

"My name isn`t Lillian…"

"This has nothing to do with Evans! If you don`t respect my friends and housemates you don`t respect me. It`s simple. We`re done."

Madeline`s fist twitched, and she looked dangerously close to pouring pumpkin juice over someone`s head. From the head table, McGonagall peered up from her newspaper at the ruckus growing around her house`s table.

"Why are you wearing that thing, are you trying to impress me or something?" James asked, and Madeline tugged at the fake orange hair on her head.

She huffed. "It`s not a choice, _she_ did it. It`s stuck on. She`s gone and sabotaged me in my sleep, and you still take her side! Outrageous. I was probably going to have an incredible hair day today too." Her perfectly manicured finger was an inch from Lily`s nose.

"I didn`t do…"

"Don`t play dumb with me. Get this thing off my head!"

"If it makes you feel better," Melody said, her eyes innocent and joyful. "One red-head to another, I think you are still having a pretty incredible hair day."

"You know what…"

"What?" Mattie said, standing up and crossing her arms. Madeline and Mattie stood nose to nose, the air around them practically giving off sparks from all the fury. "Is there something you wanted to say to my friend here? Because I`d be very interested to hear it, and so would all those teacher sitting at the head table. If you`d rather deal with _just_ deal with me, however, I could arrange…"

"I could arrange for you to be transfigured into a rock and thrown into the black lake, never to be seen or heard from again."

"And I could turn you into an ice block not quite as cold as your heart right here right now, and watch as you slowly dripped all over the floor into nothingness and water." Mattie retorted with the same tone Mel had used earlier. Mary, seeing that Mattie was mere seconds away from a duel, quietly stood up and pushed down on Melody and Mattie`s shoulders, forcing them to sit.

"What makes you think Lily of all people would stick a wig on your head? She`s never pranked anyone in her life." she said, crossing her arms.

Madeline thrust a piece of parchment in her face. "She admitted to it!"

The paper landed in Lily`s lap. It was eight lines of very cleverly written poetry, which Lily had never seen before in her life.

_You did sneer,_

_And thought you had the last laugh,_

_But you, I don`t fear or_

_Even feel sad._

_Oh, and dear?_

_Now I`ll have the last laugh._

_Go look in the mirror._

_`Cause you`ve been had!_

"Maybe if you get your hair down the wig will pull off easier." One of Madeline`s Hufflepuff friends suggested.

"Maybe."

She used her fingers to comb down some of her hair that was not all the way trapped under the wig, and a folded paper fell out. Madeline picked up, read it, and dashed out of the Great Hall, her Hufflepuff entourage close at her heels.

"What exactly did you two do to her?" Mary whispered to Mattie as the chattering in the Great Hall increased around them.

"Us? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"'You`ve been had'? Who else would think to make a threat into poetry?"

"It was some of our best work." Mel mused.

Mattie nodded thoughtfully. "She hasn`t even seen the potatoes yet."

"Okay, backtrack and explain from the beginning."

Mattie sighed. "Well, Melody had this ape glue in her trunk still from the Sluggy prank, and I remembered Marlene found a wig under her roommate's` bed after the niffer invasion… so we borrowed the wig, left it and the first bit of poetry with her to see when she woke up, and then after she and her roommates left in a huff, we transfigured _everything_ in her room into potatoes…and dumped some extra potatoes we snagged from the kitchens in there to mess with her."

"The second note is even better." Melody smiled, pocketing the evidence Madeline had left behind. "We make a potato threat, a blood/spud rhyme."

"Too bad it`s written in potatoes and will be destroyed when she sees it and flips out."

"That`s sounds bloody brill." Muttered a sleepy Alice from behind Lily.

The girls scooted over. "Feeling better?"

"Not really. My head feels like a centaur stomped on it, but I was hungry, so here I am."

"Evans!"

"What, Potter?" Lily didn`t look up from her eggs, knowing James Potter`s words could only mean trouble.

"What did you do to her?"

"Why aren`t you asking your girlfriend?"

"Ex-girlfriend."

Lily felt a small pang of guilt, knowing that prefix was her fault. "Thanks for defending me, by the way."

He shrugged, and Lily noticed some of James Potter`s cocky façade fall away momentarily. "It wasn`t right what Madeline did. Girlfriend or not, nobody messes with my friends."

"We`re friends?"

Potter tilted his head slightly, as if it would help him see the whole picture better. "I don`t know. Are we?"

"Either way, thanks."

"No problem. So, as I was saying, what _did_ you do to her?"

"Lily didn`t do anything." Mary interjected.

"Really? Then what was all that?"

Slowly, it seemed to dawn on him, and he beamed at Mattie and Mel. "You two have to give me the full details. Come on, the guys are going to want to hear this." He motioned for the pair to follow them back to his seat further down the table. "Wormy! It was a Mattie Plan, mate, you were right!"

Peter double fist pumped the air. "Called it. Wasn`t I just saying she was going to strike soon?"

"Oh no. Am I getting predictable?" Mattie turned to her best friend with fear in her eyes.

Melody patted her on the back reassuringly. "You didn`t even know this was going to happen yesterday. If you want, we can use a magic eight ball to make decisions for a bit to randomize things, if you think we`re too habitual."

"I CAN SEE THE FUTURE!" Peter was shouting, hands spread before him as if he was summoning the heavens. "BOW DOWN BEFORE PETER PETTIGREW, THE ALMIGHTY SEER!"

Unsurprisingly, Mel, Mattie, and the other three Marauders had all knelt before the newfound fortuneteller. This may have had more to do with the fact that they couldn't stop laughing to stand than their belief in Peter`s mystical powers.

"Is it just me, or is this term starting out really loud?" Alice put her head down on the table.

Mary patted her friend on the back. "If by loud, you mean exciting and interesting, then yes, I agree."

"This has been a very strange start." Lily mused, buttering her toast. "Hopefully things will calm down for a bit now."

"You don`t like the excitement?" Marlene asked.

"Excitement`s all well and good, but after a while it gets to be a bit much. I draw the line when I have to attend classes with a brain-busting headache." Came the muffled reply from Alice.

"I told you, I`ll tell the teachers you`re sick and collect your work…"

"Lillian, I`ve not missed a day of school since I first stepped in this castle, and I`m not going to break that streak for some little head pain."

"Why does everyone seem to think that`s my name now? You of all people-"

But Lily`s little rant, much like the momentary peace, was cut short by the caws, shrieks, and beating wings resulting from hundreds of hawks descending upon the students of Hogwarts.


	11. Chapter 11

If hundreds of hawks suddenly swarmed down upon your school during breakfast, what would you do?

Run? Hide? Offer up your friends as sacrifices to the almighty hawk-gods?

Across the Great Hall, Lily could see many of her classmates doing just that. Unfortunately, those who had chosen to run soon discovered they were trapped, because all of the exits were being bombarded with hawks.

But Lily Evans didn`t feel trapped (although she was). Lily Evans didn`t cower in the face of confusion (although she felt like doing so). She held her ground, like most of the brave Gryffindors, smart Ravenclaws, and some students from other houses who were bright enough to wise-up to the fact that wands beat talons (most of the time).

Almost everyone in the hall had whipped out their wands by this time, and was trying to think of spells to protect against the oncoming storm, when one of the birds, the one directly above Frank Longbottom to be exact, opened its talons.

Poor Frank didn`t even see the lightning fast blur falling strait for his head until it was too late.

"Ow!"

Everyone held their breath, half waiting to see if Frank was alright, half in wonder of who the next victim would be.

Frank rubbed his head, and picked up the offending object. "Huh?"

It was a rolled up piece of parchment, tied with a blood-red ribbon.

Just as Frank Longbottom pulled on the string to untie the ribbon, hundreds of identical scrolls fell from the sky.

Then, the only four boys who hadn`t panicked at the hawks, hadn`t drawn their wands in fear, grinned at each other, silently congratulating themselves as the rest of the hall felt the raining of the scrolls.

* * *

Severus Snape was not quick enough to dodge his scroll. It bounced of his head in a manner that made him _positive_ that it was going to leave a bruise.

Severus wasn`t positive about many things. The only other thing at the moment he prided himself in being positive was this; this hawk business was positively the fault of the four vile, despicable Gryffindors whom he despised the most.

Unfurling his scroll, he was shocked to find it blank. He was even more shocked an instant after that, when the letters started to appear on the page. His greasy hair covered most of his sinister scowl, but it could not hide the noise of distain he made. The offending writing was only two lines, and was scrawled in what appeared to be blood.

_Go jump off a cliff, Snivellus Snape. Wash your hair while you're at it._

_Consider yourself Marauded._

At the bottom of the page was a large M.

Severus only hesitated a second before running over to Lily Evans, who was on her way out of the room with a cluster of girls he could only assume were her friends. When she saw him approaching, Lily lagged back from the group, who gave Severus strange looks before continuing off without Lily. Before they were out of sight, he noticed one of the girls turn and look at him with an expression he`d only seen on the very Gryffindors he suspected to be behind the fiendish attack. He glared back before turning to Lily.

"Did you see what Potter did? Of course you did. We have to go show Dumbledore, this will finally get him and that horde of his expelled!"

Lily looked quizzical, and asked gently, "How do you know it was Potter?"

"Who else would create such a spectacle? Honestly, Lily, his enormous head must be blocking the view of the facts! He just dropped evidence all over the hall! Look!" He shoved the scroll towards her smugly.

"Sev…"

"Hmm?"

"What is it I`m supposed to be looking at?"

"The-let me see…"

Severus took back the paper, smoothing it out. "Look he-"

Suddenly, he felt like crying.

"Sev, what are you getting at? It`s just a blank bit of parchment."

His evidence. His precious evidence, the ultimate chance to evict Potter and his cronies from Hogwarts. Erased.

Lily took out her scroll. It too was now blank.

"How…?"

"It`s okay, Sev. You`ll get them next time." She said tiredly. "I have to get my morning textbooks from my dorm. See you in Potions?"

"Yeah…" Severus watched his friend walk off to her common room, leaving him with one question still hanging in his mind.

Why would Potter waste the time and resources just to send fancy insults to everyone in Hogwarts?

Severus laughed. Why else? It was James Potter. Did he need an excuse to show off his affinity to flamboyantly insult everyone?

* * *

Lily Evans stopped at the portrait of the Fat Lady, and took out her scroll again.

Still blank.

From all her years of studying, she`d developed a partially-photographic memory, but even without it she knew she would remember every word her scroll had held.

_Hello, beautiful Ms. Lily-flower Evans._

_On the forth night after the full moon, seven thirty sharp, go to the cupboard next to the stairs on the seventh floor, by the hospital wing. Knock thrice on the door, and then whisper your official title (above)._

_Prepare for the first annual Marauder Extravaganza!_

_Consider yourself lucky.  
If you speak a word of this to anyone, consider yourself dead._

At the bottom of the page was an M, written with flourish.

When the words had first appeared, she`d compared her scroll to her friends, and they all said the same thing, only with different beginnings. Lily didn`t know what Severus had received, but if she had to guess, it hadn`t been nearly as pleasant (if you could call it that) as hers.

"Hey, what did he want?" Alice asked her, handing Lily the books she`d got from their room for her.

"Thanks." Lily shrugged. "Sev was just wondering about the stunt with the hawks. Are you sure you want to class with that headache?"

"What headache?" Alice asked slyly, and whispered, "The boys let me have some of that magic wake-up juice they`ve got."

Not needing to be told who 'the boys' were, Lily rubbed her face and shook her head at her friend`s dedication to class, or just blatant disregard of the 'don`t take anything edible from a Marauder' rule. Lily especially wouldn`t trust any of them not to slip something messed up in it.

"Is your 'friend' trying to get the Marauders expelled again?" Mattie asked, catching up with them.

"Mattie…"

"What? It`s not like this would be the first time. He hangs around listening in to conversations and following them all the time, just waiting to hear something incriminating."

Lily was quiet, looking down at her homework and pretending to check it over.

Mattie sighed. "I`m sorry, Lils. I know he`s your childhood friend and all… I just don`t want you to get hurt if he takes a turn for the worse."

"Why, because he`s a Slytherin?" Lily snapped.

It was Mattie`s turn to not meet the other`s eyes. Alice, who was standing between the two, didn`t say a word. She wasn`t feeling tired anymore.

"Not all Slytherins turn out bad, you know. You and Potter shouldn`t always be so stuck on the stereotypical judgments…"

"He hangs out with Avery and Mulciber. You`ve seen them, they`re one a one-way fast track to Death Eater-hood."

"But he doesn`t…"

"Standing around watching your friends beat up a second year is just as bad as being the one behind the wand and throwing the blows. Snake is bad news, Lils, and…"

"Enough!" Lily glared, her grip tightening on her books. "_Severus_ is my friend. I need you to respect that, or leave me alone."

"I`m your friend too, Lily, and that`s why I`m trying to protect you."

Lily stopped, causing some girls walking behind them to almost collide into the three. "If you were really my friend, you`d respect my wishes and leave the topic alone."

"Whatever. Fine." Mattie marched off, practically sprinting to class.

Alice and Lily didn`t say another word to each other for the rest of the walk to Transfiguration.

* * *

"You okay?"

Of all people, it had to be Sirius Black, number three in her list of people she really wasn`t in the mood to talk to at the moment. "Couse I am. What makes you ask that?"

"It looks like you`re trying to snap your quill in two." Sirius grabbed her hand to stop her from stabbing the quill on the page (again). "Whatever`s wrong, I doubt Professor McGee will appreciate you taking your anger out on her assignments."

"Black, I`d prefer it if you leave me alone."

"I`d prefer it if I could ride my broom to class and have James be my personal butler, but that`s clearly not going to happen… well, the butler thing might be arranged…" He smiled wickedly.

Lily snapped her fingers in front of his face, knocking him from his dazed fantasy. "Earth to Black!"

"Ah, it must be bad. What happened to 'Sirius'? What did I do?"

"It`s not you, it`s…well, it _is_ you." She looked across the room at Mattie, who was discreetly playing hangman and talking to Melody while McGonagall had her back turned.

Sirius followed her gaze. "Don`t tell me you`re going to sick Bell on me! Are you at least going to tell me what I`m being punished for?"

"What? No, Mattie`s actually most of the problem."

"I thought you were eternally thankful for the Madeline thing. Everything was fine between you two at breakfast, and that was barely an hour ago."

Had it only been an hour? Lily brushed a stray hair out of her face to avoid looking at him. "It`s a long story."

Everyone knows that 'It`s a long story' most of the time is not a long story at all. Usually, as in this case, it was code for 'I don`t want to talk about it'.

"I`m gonna be here a while." Sirius leaned back in chair, as if to demonstrate his point.

Lily cleared her throat. "No, you`re not."

He rested his feet on the chair in front of them.

She tried to go back to the assignment, but failed to concentrate due to the fact she could feel his eyes on the back of her neck.

He crossed his arms.

She asked, "Don`t you have work to do?"

He pointed to the notes he`d already copied from James and Remus.

She sighed and gave in, saying, "She was saying some really rude stuff about one of my friends."

"That doesn`t sound like her."

He thought for a second before it dawned on him.

Sirius had to force himself not to smile. "Let me guess. He`s Slytherin, has really…"

"Really what, Black?" She asked, daring him to say 'greasy hair'.

"…high grades in potions."

"Mmhmm."

"What did she say? Was she doing stuff like…" Again, he had to stop himself from saying 'what James and I do'.

Used to do, she corrected herself.

"She didn`t hurt him or anything. Mattie just pretty much said he was an untrustworthy Slytherin who was going to be an evil Death Eater."

Sirius nodded, using all his strength to suppress his opinions, and said instead, "You flipped?"

"Sev`s my oldest friend. I defended him." She said strongly.

Thoughtfully, he asked, "Did she say why she was choosing now to tell you what she thought of him?"

"After he was talking to me about your little hawk display, she came up and was saying all that stuff, saying she was just trying to 'protect' me." Lily scoffed.

"What, you don`t think she was telling the truth?"

"No, I think you and Potter have diluted her brain into anti-Slytherin central, and she was trying to fulfill some grudge you`ve instilled in her."

Sirius snickered. "We didn`t brainwash her, if that`s what you`re suggesting."

Scowling, Lily turned back to the work.

"Look, Mattie`s a good person. She`s one of your best friends, and she cares about you enough to put aside petty things like rivalries, you know. Her judgment isn`t that impaired. Besides, have you forgotten already what she did for you last night? She and Mel were telling me at breakfast, Lils. It wasn`t easy, you know. They had nothing against Madeline before she threatened you, and they struck back for you with unreserved revenge, just to protect you."

Lily looked back at the hangman-playing girl in question.

"She might not be the most unbiased person in the world, or the most pro-Slytherin, but that doesn`t mean she isn`t reliable. Mattie may or may not be wrong, and it`s your decision whether or not to listen to her. But from what you said, I can tell she was being genuine, Lilykins."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Sirius Black?"

"I`m serious." He said, and then laughed at his own joke. Lily couldn`t keep from smiling.

"Oh, you`re always Sirius, you prat… but I suppose you`re right."

"Of course I`m right! Don`t you know who I am?" He patted her on the back. "Back to work now, you slacker. You`re only half done!"


	12. Chapter 12

After her talk with Sirius, which had been surprisingly enlightening, Lily had been trying to find an opportunity to talk to Mattie, but it would appear that universe was conspiring against her.

When Transfiguration ended, Lily tried to catch up with Mel, Mary, and Mattie in the hall. As she saw a flash of Mel`s bright red hair, she sped up. The hall was crowded, but Lily`s four years of experience at being first to class helped her navigate around the other students. When she was less than five feet behind them, Lily was about to call out to get their attention, when she saw something that made the words die in her throat. Turning the corner was Madeline, still wearing the Lily wig (not like she had a choice). Lily ducked behind some passing sixth years, knowing Madeline was still fresh on her warpath.

By the time Lily looked back for her, Mattie was gone.

Lily`s attempts were similarly foiled in Charms and Care of Magical Creatures, with Mattie strategically placing herself across the room or by the door, as to avoid Lily and make a speedy exit. Lily did not have Ancient Runes with her, so that too was a bust.

Soon, it was lunch, and the girls still hadn`t spoken.

Alice, Mary, Melody, and Emmeline were already at the girl`s usual spot at the Gryffindor table when Lily walked in with Marlene.

"So my mum was stuck for twenty minutes, just waiting for this guy to move his dragon!" Mel concluded, and the other girls broke into hysterics.

Mary moved over for us, and asked, "How do you think the guys are going to fit the entire school in a broom closet?"

"I`m sure there`s some expansion spell involved. Is the entire school invited?"

"Not everyone, Sev said he wasn`t invited. It must just be people the Marauders get along with or think won`t rat."

Alice nodded. "That eliminates about a sixth of the school, if we account for all the people who`ve forgiven them in the past week."

"The guys were saying earlier that they`ve put some curse on the scrolls to prevent people from ratting." Mel was picking apart her roll and flicking the pieces across the table at Emmeline and Mary. Emmeline was retaliating by using her spoon to shoot back ice cubes.

Lily looked down the table, and saw Mattie sitting in between Peter and Potter, talking and laughing with them. It wasn`t out of the ordinary that Mattie was sitting by them (most of the time it meant she was planning something big), but Lily knew this time was different.

* * *

"I told them we should just use owls, but they_ insisted_ hawks were more impressive, even after one bit Peter."

"Hawk supremacy!" James and Sirius chanted simultaneously, double high-fiving across the table.

Peter rubbed the raw mark on his arm. "We were going to paint that across their wings, but some of them were kind of…nippy."

Mattie laughed. "Speaking of wings, when are they opening the pitch? It looks finished to me."

"It is! McGee called me into her office yesterday, because I`m-"

"King of quiddich?"

"Supreme captain?"

"An egotistical nightmare?"

"A pompous chaser?"

"…Okay, okay, I get it. I might mention it a little bit too much."

"Not at all, you only waved your letter around on the train…"

"…And all summer…"

"…and every day since we got here…"

"…it`s not like you had it framed…"

"…or put laminated copies all over the dorm…"

"…especially under your pillow…"

"How do you know what`s under my pillow?"

"Oh Prongs, don`t you remember that night? Our night?" Sirius, donning a sappy lovesick puppy look, leaned across the table as if to embrace James, who cracked up and threw one of Remus` books at him.

"Anyway, the pitch is done. The Extravaganza is the night before the pitch is officially opened."

"It`s going to be a night to end all nights."

"Oh yeah it is." Sirius agreed. Any casual observer of the boys would not suspect there was more to his words, but Mattie, who`d been around them longer than any girlfriend or quiddich hopeful, could tell from his tone and the way he smiled that there was something they weren't telling her. Plus, unlike Madeline, she was persistent and smart enough to find out what it was. Besides, if they didn`t tell her, Mattie knew enough secrets to blackmail them into spilling.

"Oh really, whatcha lookin` forward to?"

The boys exchanged a very overt glance. "What`s not to look forward to?"

"Mmhmm. Who is she?"

"Who is who?"

"Come on Black, spill. You know I won`t tell anyone." Mattie smiled slyly. "If you told Bigmouth Potter, then surely you can tell me."

Again, the boys seemed to have a silent conversation.

"Alright, but don`t tell her."

"Have I ever?"

"It`s complicated." Remus began; checking around to make sure nobody was listening in.

She smiled. "So un-complicate it."

James cleared his throat. "So you know how Sirius can get any girl he wants?"

Mattie, having seen the Marauder's effect on girls over the years, nodded. She couldn`t even remember a time when they were all single.

"Basically, at the beginning of the term, we made a bet to see if old Padfoot could get this girl to fall head over heels in love with him, and he has to get her to either kiss him or confess her love before the pitch is officially opened."

"How much money do you have on this thing?"

"Thirty pounds." Peter responded.

She whistled. "Sounds like an easy thirty pounds. Any way I can get in on this?"

"It`s not so easy." Sirius assured her. "The girl in question is practically a nun when it comes to us."

Mattie scoffed, and jokingly replied, "Who is it, Lily?"

Silence. For once, all four of them had nothing to say.

"You`re kidding."

The table had suddenly become extremely interesting.

"This is a prank, right? Hilarious, guys. You really got me there for a second."

"It`s not a joke." Remus finally said. "We`ve got thirty pounds on it."

"You`re insane."

"I`m eight hundred and sixty percent Sirius." Sirius said.

"Totally Sirius?"

"Absolutely."

Mattie let out a long breath of air. "You`re going to have to get her really drunk, and she never drinks."

"We`ll see about that."

"Don`t hurt her, alright?" Mattie realized that they couldn`t do this without hurting her, and amended her previous statement. "Don`t take advantage-well… don`t do anything Remus wouldn`t do."

"I wouldn`t do any of it." Remus said.

"Clearly, you bet on it."

"True, but I wouldn`t be in Sirius` shoes."

"I would hope not." Sirius said, brushing his shoes off.

Peter stood up, brushing off his hands. "I have to go up to the dorm quick; I just realized I forgot my caldron for Potions."

"I`ll come with you, my afternoon textbooks are up there." Remus followed him out, and Sirius glanced down the table.

"I`ve got an Evans to catch and a bet to win. Bell," he pretended to tip an imaginary hat, "Prongs." he saluted, and set off in search of Lily.

Once Sirius was out of earshot, Mattie smacked James lightly on the shoulder. "Ow! What?"

"Why did you agree to that? I thought you had a thing for Lily."

"First off, at the time of the bet, I had a girlfriend."

"Oh please, since when have girlfriends ever stopped you from asking her out before?"

"Second, I always have a _thing_ for Lily, but who am I to let that get in the way of an easy thirty pounds? There`s no way Padfoot can win this, because Marauder or not, she`s still _Lily_, and she`d never fall for him if she wouldn`t even look at me."

"I hope you`re right, and somehow this time he doesn`t win."

"Why do you care, I thought you and Lily were fighting?"

"She might be a blind, bossy, and totally stubborn sometimes, but she`s still my friend, and as much as she infuriates me sometimes, I don`t want to see her get hurt. You and I both know how Sirius Black`s relationships end, James. Lily doesn`t deserve to end up as another one of those discarded girls who he`s kicked to the curb."

"It might be too late." James said, looking across the room as Lily and Sirius walked out together.

What had he done?


	13. Chapter 13

At this point, Lily Evans though she`d seen it all.

Watching hawks dive-bomb your breakfast and niffers invade your bedroom in the span of a few weeks tended to do that to a person.

But unlike how her perfect academic record would suggest, Lily was not always right.

The day after Lily`s dorm became divided, one of those times arrived when Sirius said something that completely threw her for a loop.

"I`ve got detention again tonight."

No, it wasn`t that. Lily had become used to the questionable antics, and Marauders getting detention were unsurprising before she started hanging out with Sirius.

"What for this time?" She asked tiredly.

"Did you see the suits of armor this morning?"

She chuckled. "That was you?" Someone had shoved pumpkins on the helmets of all the knights.

"Dumbledore wasn`t so pleased. Anyway, luckily the teachers don`t know about the Extravaganza, otherwise they`d schedule my detention then."

"That would suck, seeing as it is your event."

"Yeah." There was a moment's pause, an improbable second, and it was then that Sirius decided to say the thing that nearly made her fall down the stairs.

"Hey, I`ve been meaning to ask you, will you go to the Extravaganza with me?"

"Huh?"

"Will you..."

"No, no, I heard you the first time. It`s just…" She was quiet, thinking about the past few weeks. First the carriage, then the lake, helping with her dorm, the party… Lily had noticed Sirius` recent interest in her. How could she not? Lily had tried to rationalize things, using her knowledge of the Marauder's history, and she`d always been a strong believer that dealing with any of them would only result in a mess she didn`t want to deal with. But recently she`d seen the boys, or Sirius, really, in a different light. Lily suddenly remembered a phrase she`d used during her fight with Mattie, '...shouldn`t always be so stuck on the stereotypical judgments…'…. was she being hypocritical by sticking to her initial judgment of Sirius?

Lily wasn`t the spontaneous type. She never leapt before she looked, or even made decisions before analyzing the living daylights out of every possibility. But she also didn`t like the thought of being a hypocrite. Lily Evan`s pride was probably to blame for the next words out of her mouth, which threw most of her philosophies and better judgment out the window.

"Actually, I`d love to go with you."

"Brilliant. It`s a date!" He grinned wickedly. "I`ve got to pop down to McGonagall`s to get this whole detention bit sorted out, see you at dinner?"

"Alright, I hope she`s in a good mood for your sake…"

Sirius had to restrain himself to tone down his smirk. If he let too much of the cocky Sirius show through, he knew Evans might wise up. It was hard, but the challenge was fascinating, even if he had to regrettably forego some of his normal pastimes momentarily, like pranking. His lying tendencies, however, had significantly increased in the past few weeks. Once Lily had turned a corner and vanished from sight, Sirius ducked behind a tapestry, tapped the wall with his wand, and stepped into the passage that opened before him, one of his favorites.

Once the wall closed behind him, he drew a mirror from his pocket. "Prongs! Oi, Prongsie!"

He could barely make out the mirror in the dim wand light, but the voice of his best friend reassured him that it was working. "What`s up, mate?"

"Oh, I`m just giving you a heads-up now that I`ll take my 30 galleons in all knuts, if you have `em. You might want to start gathering that together, because I`ve just basically beaten you. Guess who`s going to the Extravaganza with yours truly?"

"It`s not over `till the Fat Lady sings, Padfoot." James said, repeating a nonsensical muggle phrase he`d once heard Lily use.

"That can easily be arranged."

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Is James Potter trying to back out of a bet?"

"No, I just thought maybe it would be better if…"

"Put some socks on those cold feet. Nothing personal, remember? Just good business."

With that, Sirius stashed away his mirror, leaving James staring into an empty mirror.

James frowned, and, knowing his best friend was no longer listening, said one last thing before putting away his mirror.

"Nothing personal."

* * *

The moment Lily had decided to defy reason; several definite paths had become very clear to her.

First of all, she gave up on trying to mend things with Mattie. What was the point anyway? The way Lily figured, it was worth less than the effort required, if Mattie was just going to keep on hating Lily`s best friend.

Similarly, she wasn`t going to hang around people who she didn`t like. Why bother?

Last, she was going to put the energy she was saving from not interacting with Mattie and people like her into giving the Marauders the second chance Sirius had shown her they deserved.

After several days of testing out her new ideals, Lily was pleased with herself. So what if her room was as quiet as Transfiguration on an exam day, only with more exchanges of warily restrained glances? Who needed them, anyway? The three of them always found a way to mess things up. Lily was better off without their deadweight dragging her down.

Lily had filled the void in her life that their absence created with something way more important.

The day of the party, Lily was dressed and out of the dorm before any of her roommates woke up. Even Mary hadn`t stirred as Lily crept out the door, using her wand to fix her hair.

Unsurprisingly, the Great Hall mas mostly empty when she got there. At the Gryffindor table, there was only eight other people besides Lily, who took a seat next to Frank.

"Morning." He said, not looking up from his Herbology essay.

"Last minute homework?" Lily asked sympathetically.

"Well, I would have had it done last night, if I didn`t have such animals for roommates."

Lily nodded. "I know your pain."

He couldn`t help laugh. "You, Lily Evans, leaving homework until the last minute?"

"No, the roommate thing."

"Again, I don`t see where you`re coming from. I`d kill for roommates like yours."

"Surely the Marauders aren`t that bad…?"

"Oh, don`t get me started on them. They kept me up all last night with their latest game, 'splat'."

"Do I want to know?"

"It`s pretty much them dangling each other upside-down out the window, and whoever can stay out the longest doesn't have to drink. After the first dozen rounds, I was afraid they were going to start dropping each other."

"I`m sorry I asked."

"Still think you`ve got worse roommates?"

"Please. At least the Marauders get along."

"What happened? I thought all of you were friends."

"Were."

"Alice isn`t your best mate anymore? That must be tough."

"No, she`s still pleasant. The other three, though…"

"You and Mary were in the library studying just the other day!"

"Mary`s barely tolerable. On her own, she`s fine, but she`s been all hush-hush around me when she`s with Mattie and Mel."

"Because of that thing with you and Mats? Alice told me what happened. Haven`t you two worked that out by now?"

"It`s not worth it. Something will just happen again, and I`ll regret ever speaking to her."

"Excuse me." Lily heard a quiet voice behind her, and turned to see Emmeline Vance slide onto the bench next to her. "Sorry to interject here, but you were talking kind of loud and I couldn`t help but wonder…"

"No, It`s fine. What did you want to say?"

"It`s just…why do you think your friendship is useless and not worth preserving?"

"Excuse me?"

"Sorry, but haven`t you been friends with them for years? I know sometimes friends can have disagreements or misunderstandings, but most of the time you enjoy the fun times you have together and all the memories. Wasn`t that worth something to you? I know I wouldn`t trade my memories of my best friends for anything in the world."

"If they were my friends, they wouldn`t insult my best friend."

"Look Lily, I`m not going to say what they did was okay. I`m not entirely sure what was even said, so I`m in no position to judge any of your actions. All I`m going to say about that is, I don`t think Mattie would intentionally hurt you. Just a couple days ago, wasn`t she and Melody standing up for you against that mean Hufflepuff girl, and staying up all night just to get revenge? Maybe I`m wrong, but that sounds like something best friends would do for you."

Lily was quietly stunned. This was the most Emmeline had ever said to her, and, Lily began to realize, she had a point.

"You and I have never been that close, I know, but I don`t want to sit here and watch you throw away something genuine and rare. You can do what you like, but I just wanted to warn you, just so you know, that good friends are hard to come by. Do you know how lucky you are? In Slytherin, hardly anybody has friendships like that, unfortunately for your Severus. He only has you, but you have him, Alice, Mattie, Mel, Mary, and tons of other people like the Marauders who have your back. Heck, you`ve got Marlene, Nat, and I right across the hall!"

More people had begun to sit down around them, obvious in their morning daze. Lily realized she was like these people, not looking past their own routine. She`d hardly said two words to Emmeline and her friends before, and yet this girl was sitting here saving her from making a huge mistake.

"Anyway, I`m sorry I butted into your conversation. You can do what you like. I know you don`t really know me for who I am, and I`m not going to pretend I really know you." Emmeline got up, already looking over Lily`s shoulder, across the hall at Marlene and a dark skinned girl who`d just entered and were waving at her. "Just…good luck."

Lily turned back to Frank, who`d stopped his essay to listen to Emmeline. "You think you`ll finish?"

"Worst comes to worst I have to blackmail a Marauder to speed-write the rest of my essay in exchange for not telling the teachers about 'splat'."

"What`s this about the greatest game on Earth?" Sirius plopped down on the bench across from Lily, Peter taking the spot next to her that had briefly been Emmeline`s. Remus tried to get Sirius to budge over so he could sit.

James heaved himself down next to Frank. "Did someone say quiddich?"

"No, clearly he meant hopscotch." Remus replied.

"Are you serious, mate?"

"Oh, I`m Sirius all right."

While the boys debated whether or not hopscotch was a sport, Lily looked down the table to discover that, ironically, her and Mattie`s seats were reversed from the way they`d been just days ago. As Lily looked at her roommates chatting with each other, she found it hard to remember she was mad at them. Maybe it was Emmeline`s words or it was just that Lily had known them too long, but when she saw them, she couldn`t distance herself and see the coldness of strangers. They still looked like the same people they`d always been in the past. Her friends.

It took all of Lily`s pre-breakfast strength push back Emmeline`s words and turn away.

* * *

"Padfoot, hold up for a sec!"

Sirius slowed as Peter and Remus joined him on his trek back from Care of Magical Creatures. "I hope the old professor`s arm is alright."

"It`d be a shame if he lost another finger." Remus agreed. Peter nudged him softly in the arm, and Remus said, "So we were thinking…"

"That we should stop in to the kitchens for a snack?"

"YES!" Peter said, and then strained to calm himself. "No, I mean yes, that is something we should do, but there is something else we wanted to talk about."

"Then out with it!"

"Well, so you know how there`s this big fight between the girls, and that`s why Lily`s been sitting with us at meals?"

"Are you sure she`s not sitting there because of my manly charms?" Sirius said, lowering his voice into an imitation of James.

"Anyway…" Remus continued, ignoring Sirius, "Lily is currently very sad and isolated at the moment."

"But that`s what we`re for, am I right?"

"Um, that`s what we`re worried about. You see, we think it might be best to call off the bet due to the fact that-"

"James put you up to this, didn`t he? Look gents, don`t listen to a word out of Prong`s mouth. He`s just jealous I achieved what he couldn`t."

"But Lily-"

"Is a strong and intelligent bird who can`t help the fact that she happened to stroll by while we were in a gambling mood. Good business, remember? Come on Wormy, you`ve got to me with me. It was your idea, after all."

"Padfoot, if I had a time turner, I`d go back and personally kidnap myself to prevent this from happening. Come on, please just call it off."

"Are you all turning into a bunch of Hufflepuff girls?"

"No, Sirius. We`re being true Gryffindors, or even Ravenclaws right now."

"Mate, chill. Evans will be fine, I promise."

"Can you really promise that, Black?" Remus said, glaring. "Come on, Wormy."

The two took off, leaving Sirius wondering how extravagant the Extravaganza was really going to be.

"They`ll cool off." He muttered to himself. A familiar flash of red in his peripheral vision caught his eye, and his wicked smile returned.

"Hey Lily!"

* * *

Alice was alone in the Common room until Mary fell down the stairs.

"That`s proves it! No heels for you until you agree to take some walking lessons!" Melody cried over the torrent of giggles, and she and Mattie hurried down to help their friend up.

When Mary took off the shoes and inspected the damage. "I`m getting better."

"You fell down a flight of stairs." Mattie pointed out.

"Yeah, but I walked down two of the steps, and only made a tiny dent with the wall with these things. I bet ninjas could use these as big throwing stars... I bet _we_ could use these as big throwing stars!" There was a small demonstration, which resulted in several more dents in the wall.

"Good thing Elizabeth isn`t here to see that, or Lily for that matter." The girls scanned the room for witnesses, and only then realized they weren't alone. Lowering her voice, Mattie added, "Alice won`t tell, it`s all good."

Naturally, the universe thought that was a good time to have Lily enter the common room. Sirius was making her laugh about something, and she had her hand on his shoulder to keep herself upright.

Alice took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on her book, suddenly aware she was the only one in the room not laughing. She considered her roommates her closest friends, but at times like these she wondered if they felt the same way.

Across the room, Lily seemed to have noticed the presence of the three girls on the stairs. Scrunching her face in a way that Alice could only ever vividly remember Lily`s sister doing when Alice had first met her. As the trio ascended the stairs again, Alice felt this had gone on long enough. Lily had her time to pout, but now she was beginning to become someone else.

"Hey Lils, can I speak with you for a moment?" She asked quietly as the other two settled down on a couch.

Lily`s glare softened slightly. "Of course, Al. What`s up?"

"Without the bloke, please."

"Alright, I can see where I`m not wanted." Sirius joked, standing up and walking away. "Girl talk, huh?"

Once he was out of earshot, Alice asked, "What`s your problem recently?"

"_My _problem?"

"That`s what I said."

"The universe seems to have some problem with me!" She exclaimed, aghast.

"Really? Tell me, Lils, in the past week have you turned into a malnourished child? Has You-know-who attacked a member of your family? Have you ever gotten less than an E on a test?"

"What is with you? Are you kidding right now?"

"I`m completely serious, and DON`T ANYONE EVEN MAKE THAT BLOODY JOKE."

"Alice…is something wrong?"

"Oh no, don`t start caring about me. We were talking about your _many_ difficulties."

"I`m being forced to live with some ignorant prigs who stereotypically judge people by their house and force their judgments on others, that is a big problem!"

"Oh, Lilykins, you obviously truly believe that, don`t you?"

"Why are you calling me that?"

"I don`t think you understand how well you`ve got it right now. First off, you somehow contracted a magic gene despite being born of muggle parents, and was excepted into the world`s best school of magic. Second, at that magical school, you excelled and are top of your year, despite being raised by muggles. Third, you were sorted into a brilliantly fantastic house at the said school, and were assigned to be roommates with four fantastically loyal girls who became your best friends and make sure nobody messes with you. Four, a star quiddich player has been professing his love for you for the past four years. Five, you were invited to an exclusively epic secret party by one of the handsome co-hosts. And six, even when you have minor disagreements with one of your friends, you`re best friend is still there for you and defends you when the others aren`t so nice. Lastly, you have the privilege of choosing to basically ignore your best friend with no consequences because she cares about you enough to respect your decisions and you instead hang around the most popular boys in school."

"Al, I-"

"Lily, I have to tell you something as your best friend. Keep in mind I don`t want to see you get hurt, and neither did Mattie for that matter, and that`s why I`m telling you this. You can do what you like, but if you ignore and neglect your best friends forever, no matter how good of friends they are, one day when you finally look around to see where they are you`ll find that they eventually moved on. You`re too busy holding a pity party for yourself over the friends you`re mad at, can`t see friends you have right in front of you."

Alice sniffed, suddenly realizing she was holding back tears. "So have fun with the Marauders, Lil. Maybe if you`re lucky, they`ll induct you as their fifth member."

She picked up her things and headed to her room, forcing herself not to look back to check Lily`s reaction, forcing herself to pretend it didn`t matter to her what Lily did.

If Lily didn`t care, why should Alice?


	14. Chapter 14

Tears started to stream down Lily`s face.

How could she have been so stupid, so blind as to not see her best friend had been at her side all through this? Remus, Sirius, and even Emmeline had all told her she was making a mistake, but it had taken Alice herself to show Lily what a ginormous mistake she had made.

"Alice!"

If only she`d listened to Emmeline when she had the chance.

"Alice, wait!"

Lily chased after her friend, but she knew it was probably in vain.

Her best friend was gone.

* * *

Lily couldn't bring herself to go into her dorm, not after what she`d done. They all hated her, probably. So, instead, she kept on walking past the door to her room, and knocked on the one right next door.

"Hold on, coming!" The voice of Marlene McKinnon drawled from the other side of the door. There was a small thud, and the door opened to reveal Marlene with her blonde hair half curled.

Lily made brief eye contact with Emmeline over Marlene`s shoulder, and then asked, "Is it okay if I get dressed for the party in here?"

Marlene still looked quite confused, but Emmeline`s gaze softened. "Come on in."

"Do you have what you`re going to wear?" asked the dark skinned girl by the window, who Lily vaguely remembered as Nat.

"No…" Her green dress, jacket, and shoes were still hanging on her bedpost where Alice had put it earlier, when they were picking out what to wear. "Accio…"

"Wait." Emmeline cut in, and Lily lowered her wand. "If you accio them, it will try to break through a window or something, since their door is shut. If you want, I`ll go with you to get your stuff."

"Okay," said Lily, feeling more like Emmeline was giving her an order, not option. She must be braver now, around her friends.

The pair stepped out into the hall, and Emmeline looked at Lily expectantly when they reached Lily`s door.

Lily, suddenly catching her silent message, drew back. "_I`m_ not knocking. You`re the one who wanted to come over here in the first place!"

"It`s your room."

"Yeah, it is, and I`ve never knocked to go into my own room!" She said, exasperated.

Emmeline smiled slyly. "Then go right in."

"You tricked me!" Lily laughed, and shook her head. "You`re more cunning than you look, you know that? You should talk to Mattie and Mel; they could use someone like you."

"Well, now you`re actually getting to know me." Emmeline shrugged. "People are not always as they appear, you know."

Leaning against the wall, Lily was still laughing in shock.

"I know you didn`t listen before, but I think you should reconsider being mad at your roommates. It`s really not going to be worth it in the end."

"Oh, I know what you mean. I`m sorry I didn`t listen to you in the first place. My logic must have been impaired or something, because anyone like me should have instantly listened to your words of wisdom."

"Lily, no offense, but I don`t think you took into account stubbornness in that evaluation." She said, patting her on the back.

"I`m not…! Well, maybe…"

"Would you be okay going in there by yourself? You do have to face them eventually."

"I can`t."

"You have to get your stuff somehow."

Lily sighed.

"Fine."

Without another word, she disappeared into her dorm.

* * *

"Who`s got my hairbrush?"

The dorm was in such a state of messy disarray, it was as if the niffers had struck again. The only person in the room not tearing around the room was Melody, who was doing a handstand against the bathroom door, eyes shut.

"Ow!" Mary rubbed her head, and crawled out from underneath her bed. "Has anyone seen my other shoe?"

Mattie tried to hop over to the windowsill to retrieve Alice`s hairbrush while shoving a boot on her hovering foot, but ended up slipped on a sock and tumbled to the ground. She reached out and snagged the brush, taking it with her in her fall. "Got it!"

"My shoe?"

"No, the brush. Heads up, Al."

Alice caught it with ease, and ran it through her hair briefly before starting to apply her makeup. As she did so, she saw her upside-down roommate reflected in the mirror. "What are you doing, Mel?"

"Waiting for you stooges to get ready."

"But doesn`t that mess up your ha-"

"Accio right flat!"

The shoe struck Alice in the back of the head, causing her to accidentally jab herself in the eye with her mascara wand. "Oi! Watch where you`re…"

Everyone froze at the double click of the door being opened.

* * *

Lily restrained herself from making eye contact or saying a word as she entered the room.

Grabbing her clothes off her bed, she didn`t stop to question the havoc around her; not the fact that two of her roommates were on the floor, nor the rogue line of makeup on Alice`s face, and not even the handstand. She just channeled her inner Petunia, pursed her lips, and left.

* * *

Twenty after seven, Lily was sitting around with Marlene in the common room (Emmeline had already left to meet up with her Ravenclaw boyfriend), waiting for Sirius to show up and escort her to the party.

The girls were sharing a sofa, each lost in their own thoughts. Lily was listening to Nat and Jill, Marlene`s roommates, debate whether or not they should bring their wands to the party.

"We could transfigure our clothes into pajamas and say we`re sleep walking if Flinch finds us coming back."

"Where are you going to keep it while you`re dancing? It could get stolen or snapped."

"Yeah, but what if you need it to get in?"

"So what do you think about Jeffery Gardener?" Marlene asked Lily, out of the blue.

Trying to picture the boy in question, Lily asked, "The Hufflepuff?"

"Mmhmm."

"He`s well fit. He`s a beater, isn`t he? I`m not surprised about all those muscles, what with all that quiddich… The real question here is, I would think, what do _you_ think of Jeffery Gardener?"

Marlene blushed and turned away, towards the fire. "That is the question…"

"Tonight would be the perfect time to get to know him a bit better…"

"That`s what Jill was saying…speaking of well fit, here comes your guy."

Lily looked around, surprised and confused to hear anyone referred to as _her guy_. Spotting Sirius coming through the portrait hole, she smiled shyly, it finally hitting her who Marlene was referring to.

Was he her guy? He wasn`t her boyfriend, but did that mean he wasn`t her guy?

The last boy she`d dated had been back in third year, and this whole thing almost seemed like a foreign concept for a moment, but Lily quickly regained her confidence. Sirius`d asked her to the party, after all.

"Hey." He said, offering a hand to help Lily up off the sofa. "You look fantastic."

Cursing the blush she knew was creeping over her cheeks, Lily smiled. "You aren`t half bad yourself."

"Why thank you." He tipped the top hat he was inexplicably wearing. "Shall we?"

"Of course." Lily didn`t stop to think about why he was using words like 'shall' and wearing a top hat. She didn`t question the mischievous glint in his eyes, and dismissed the very faint smoky smell as coming from the fireplace. Instead, she waved goodbye to Marlene and the girls and allowed Sirius Black to whisk her out of the common room.

From the top of the stairs, Matilda Bell witnessed their departure, knowing full well why Sirius was smiling the way he was.

* * *

They met up with the other Marauders at the top of the stairs, next to the cupboard. Each of them, Lily was unsurprised to discover, were wearing identical top hats and grinning profoundly.

James looped his arm through one of Lily`s and pulled her from Sirius. "You`re looking marvelously stunning tonight, Evans. Wanna ditch your date for a real man?"

"And you look like something a dragon coughed up, Potter." She retorted, falling easily into their usual banter as she spun out of his grasp.

"What`s this real man business?"

"It`s okay, Padfoot, we`re all friends here. You can tell her, she was bound to find out eventually." James stage whispered.

Trying to not encourage their behavior, Lily asked Remus, "Where`s Ariana?"

"She`s coming in with her friends a bit later." He replied, Sirius talking over him.

"Oh, don`t worry about my manliness, Potter. If you have any questions about that, you should just ask your mum."

James made a move as if to gouge out his eyes. "Ack! Merlin`s beard, I did not need that image burned into my mind."

"Prongs` mum aside, we have an Extravaganza to host." Remus reminded them, and knocked on the door three times. "Mister Moony."

"Mister Wormtail."

"Mister Padfoot."

"What do the names mean?" Lily whispered to Peter, who just nudged her and nodded pointedly at the door. "Erm, Miss Lily…Lily-flower Evans."

"Mister Prongs."

A moment of quiet waiting (rare, considering the group) passed before Lily impatiently asked, "Isn`t someone going to open the door?"

"You can." Offered Peter.

Maybe it was the curiosity, impending excitement, or the enchanting smell of Sirius` cologne so close to her, but with her logical thinking temporarily impaired (because who in their right mind would not constantly be suspicious of the Marauders being up to no good?) Lily turned the doorknob, and opened the door.

It was just a normal cupboard.

"I don`t see how you`re going to fit- Ahhh!"

Lily was cut off as the ground disappeared from underneath her feet. In the time it took for her to blink, they were gone, descended into darkness. Had anyone been in the hall, they could easily missed the second of change as the floor slid back after the Marauders and a shocked Lily, and the cupboard clicked shut again.

The fall took less than a minute, and when she did land, she didn`t hit the ground as hard as she`d expected to. It took Lily ten seconds to realize that the reason why was because she sitting on James and Peter. Two seconds after that, she`d jumped up and brushed herself off, nonchalantly acting as if he elbow hadn`t been in Peter`s face.

Sirius was already up and proudly surveying the large room before him when Lily reached his side.

One whole wall of the room was devoted to tables of wide assortments of every food imaginable, from cornflakes to caldron cakes. Lily didn`t think she wanted to know what was in the coolers. The boys had also set up punch and giant barrels of Honeyduke`s finest butterbeer and firewhiskey, and in the far corner, Lily saw what appeared to be a live band setting up. Besides Lily, the Marauders, and the band, the only other early arrivals were the ghosts that were drifting in, loitering in the shadows and giving the room a cool eerie feel.

"Whoa."

"That`s what James` mum said…. Ow!"

* * *

By the time Alice fell into the party, the room, two-thirds as big as the great hall, was packed.

"I don`t think I know even half of these people." Mary exclaimed in wonder as she pushed herself off the floor.

The two narrowly managed to jump out of the way as the roof opened and the trapdoor brought in a bunch of sixth year Hufflepuffs. One of the boys on the bottom of the pile complained, "Couldn`t somebody have set up mats here or something?"

As if she`d somehow known her name had been said, Mattie appeared out of the crowd of students and made her way towards them, drinks in both hands.

"Did somebody request a set up?" Before Alice or Mary could react, the drinks were pressed into one of their hands and the other was being pulled closer to the music, madness, and general merry chaos that was the First Annual Marauder's Extravaganza.

Mary tapped Alice on the shoulder and said something that was drowned out by the music. Alice gestured to her ear, and Mary leaned closer, shouting, "HAVE YOU SEEN HER?"

Wincing from the direct scream, Alice didn`t need to ask who her friend was referring to. For a brief moment, her eyes scanned the room, flicking from face to face until she spotted the girl she was looking for. Pointing, Alice waited until recognition registered on Mary`s face before shouting back, "DO YOU THINK SHE`S GOING TO STAY WITH THEM ALL NIGHT?"

"I HOPE NOT. YOU KNOW HOW THEY GET AT THINGS LIKE THESE…I HOPE FOR HER SAKE, SHE FINDS A NICE GROUP OF RAVENCLAWS TO HANG AROUND FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT." Unspoken, both girls knew that`s what Normal Lily would have done if she was here. Actually, Normal Lily might have even opted out of the party and spent the night in the library instead.

Even Lily Evans herself had realized that she was no longer Normal Lily. Although her friends had no idea, even she had started to comprehend that something had altered her against her will, pushed and manipulated her into this new, Twisted Lily.

Unbeknownst to everyone but Emmeline and Marlene, Twisted Lily had just begun to unravel. Normal Lily was vaguely coming through as, across the room, Lily met Alice`s gaze.

* * *

"So," said Sirius, causing Lily to tear her eyes away from Alice, "How ready are you to get this party really started?"

"I`ve never felt more ready."

"That`s what I like to hear! Wormtail, Prongs, ready the cannons!"

As Lily was lead into the heart of the quickly heating party, James felt his chances at winning the bet swiftly slipping away.

* * *

"Hello everyone, if you`re not too tanked yet I`d like to invite you to move your eyes in the general direction of the wall opposite the refreshments. If any of you are wondering who is mysterious voice from above is and why you should listen to her directions, then Hogwarts isn`t completely filled with mindless sheep after all! Just kidding, we love you Amos. Anyway, to answer the former question for any questioning souls out there, this is Melody Williamson, fourth year Gryffindor and the most disputable school quiddich announcer since the invention of the broom, and I`ve only been doing it a year. Seriously people, I`ve got the detentions and suspensions to prove it. Pipe down Black, I`ll get to you. At any rate, hold on to your hats folks, because I`m going to be your emcee for the duration of this fabulous evening. You`d better hold on to your hand grenades folks, because this party`s just getting started."

Besides Sirius` brief attempt to make his signature joke, several other people loudly asked why they were being made to face a blank wall. Everyone was familiar enough with the Marauder's for these questions and protests to die out quickly, leaving a hush of excited anticipation in its wake.

"Now ladies, gentlemen, and ne'er-do-wells of all ages, it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you… the fantastically ghastly, stupendously remarkable, cordially outlandish, and all around maniacal… MAURADERS!"

The roar of cheers and applause of the gathered students was only overshadowed by the large crack as columns erupted from the ground under each of the four boys lifting them up high above the crowd, and confetti cannons launched their contents across the room. Lily, who had been dancing with Sirius, jumped back as the ground began to rise, but Sirius refused to let go of her hand.

"Jump!" He urged, seemingly oblivious to the nearly two wands large (and rapidly growing) difference in the platform`s height.

She tried to pull away, but he just leaned down and grabbed her other hand. "Come on, it`ll be fun."

"Are you s…" Breaking off before he could answer that he was indeed Sirius, Lily took a deep breath, and jumped.

Naturally, as she was not a spider monkey, she didn`t make it to the top of the column in that single leap.

Instead Lily clung onto Sirius`s hands for dear life, trying to get a grip with her feet on the section of the column she`d reached. Fortunately all of the quiddich playing had given Sirius lots of upper body strength, and he pulled Lily up the rest of the way of the platform.

It was dizzying, looking down upon her classmates amiss the falling glitter and swirling lights. Lily found it almost impossible to focus on just one person. Across the room, Ariana waved at her from Remus` platform, where she`d been smart enough to step on right when it started rising. Melody was rattling off the boy`s names and counting down some of their best pranks so far, but Lily was too dazed to really pay attention.

"Whoa. This is…"

"Outstanding? Marvelous? The best idea ever?" supplied Sirius.

Lily laughed, finding it impossible to stop grinning madly. "Well, actually I was going to say insane, and ask how you installed all of this…"

"Magic, Lily-flower. You haven`t even seen the best part yet."

He turned to the other Marauders, and nodded once. James repeated the gesture to Melody, who smiled and said, "If you treasure your limbs, then it might be wise to please step back from that wall I told you to look at earlier. Alright, so each of you has been chosen to be here for a very specific reason. There is something that binds all of you, all of us, together. It is a quality that is the best, most wonderful quality of them all. We all know that the quality that binds the Marauder's together is their love of mischief, but does anyone know what the major element here is? I`ll give you a hint; it is not the innate desire to please…"

"Magic?" Called out a Ravenclaw, always wanting to be the first to answer.

One of the Slytherins raised their cup and belted, "Firewhiskey!"

But surprisingly, it was a small Hufflepuff who yelled the correct answer, "Par-ty!"

"That`s right!" Melody cheered, and then did her best McGonagall impression. "Can you repeat that a little louder please, so everyone can take note of it?"

"Par-ty!"

"Loud-er!"

"PAR-TY!"

"I`m sorry, did a hippogriff sneeze in the next room? Belt it out, people!"

"PAR-TY! PAR-TY!"

Suddenly, as the chant rose to a wall-shattering volume, the wall in front of them did indeed shatter. It was a spontaneous combustion into thousands of little pieces of confetti, which rained down onto the crowd like butter on toast. When the glitter and paper cleared, everyone could see the stone floor that extended past where the wall used to be, going farther than the ceiling and out into the open air.

"It`s a balcony." Stated Lily, awestruck.

Sirius chuckled. "So it is."

Lily suddenly realized how small their square platform was, only about a wand and a half or so across. She and Sirius were practically nose to nose when she was facing him. Taking a tentative step back, Lily failed to remember the fact that the smallness of the square did not allow much room for moving around until her left foot slipped off the edge, sending her toppling backwards.

Would anyone stop gaping at the balcony long enough to realize that she was about to land on them?

Before a scream could pass her lips, Lily`s somewhat rhetorical question was answered as a pair of strong hands grabbed her shoulders, steadying her so she could regain her footing.

Blushing, Lily murmured a quick "Thanks." to her rescuer. Sirius didn`t reply, and when he didn`t remove his hands it soon became apparent he was aware of the smallness of the square, too.

For one long moment, Lily forgot about the wall, the party, her friends, and the crowd below. Finally, when Sirius did move a hand, he rested it on her cheek.

Sirius flicked his thumb across her skin. "You had a piece of glitter…"

With a nod, she wondered why he was looking at her like that if it had just been a piece of glitter.

Normal Lily didn`t completely trust Sirius Black, despite his reforms. She remembered the incident on the train, and wouldn`t have jumped on the platform. The other Lily didn`t care. When Sirius smiled and leaned in, Normal Lily would have pushed him off the platform and onto the mob below. That though never crossed the other Lily`s mind.

Lily Evans never would have thought she`d have done a lot of things that happened during her fourth year at Hogwarts, especially not kiss Sirius Black.

And yet suddenly, there they were, high above the ground, lips locked.

James Potter felt his stomach drop further then he`d fall if he jumped off his platform. Just good business.

In the brief moments the kiss lasted, Lily faintly heard the sound of fireworks going off beyond the balcony, and she couldn`t help wonder if that was why the smell of gunpowder still lingered on Sirius.

* * *

Severus Snape heard the sounds of the explosions, startling him into dropping his book.

Gleefully, he ran from his room.

He had them this time!

* * *

Despite the destructive noise from outside, none of the teachers even stirred that night.

Was it the muffliato charms that had been placed on them by certain individuals?

Maybe the sleeping potion they`d all ingested at dinner was a factor.

But honestly, it was mostly due to the fact that a certain Slytherin student had fallen into a stray puddle of quicksand. Actually, it was a transfigured rug that was never quite the same afterwards.

* * *

Out of all of her roommates, Mary was undoubtedly the sanest.

A Ravenclaw bumped her hip, almost sending her drink flying onto the drummer, and she burst into hysterical laughter that even she couldn`t hear over the pulse of music. Ariana joined in, and Mary tried to figure out what made all of this so funny. It was probably all the drinks, she decided.

There was a reason Lily usually held the title Mary was about to rid herself of. Was it because she had a tad more dignity? Maybe. Was part of it due to the fact Mary hung around Mattie and Mel more? Probably. Was it because Lily wasn`t as determined? Mary would like to believe so, and as she downed another drink, she did.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Mmm. Nothing," Mary beamed at the sight of Mel playing darts with the precision of a person only on their first drink. "It`s just I won`t be the one helping clean up from all of this."

Even though she`d been around the Marauders enough to have grown accustom to the strange ways of the Gryffindors, Ariana was thrown by this declaration. "I though the boys were going to magic this all away tomorrow morning… why would you get dragged into it?"

After an eye roll, Ariana got her explanation. "My roommates and I made this agreement after a particularly disastrous morning after a Gryffindor quiddich victory… whichever of us is the most together at the end of nights like this is supposed to clean up the messes of the other four. I had to do it once…" she shuddered at the memory. "Among other things, I had to get Mel`s heels from the astronomy tower and drive James out of our closet."

"Closet?"

Mary sighed, and tried to repress a smile. "Lily locked him in. Anyway, by the looks of it, I won`t be the one pulling the bodies out of the lake."

Ariana`s eyes were wide. "Bodies?!"

"Remus must really like you if he`s sheltered you this much." She chuckled, somewhat darkly, and patted her innocent friend on the shoulder. "Come on, let`s go find Mel so I can show you how the Gryffindor`s party."

"Oh…okay…" The Ravenclaw gave in and allowed her boyfriend`s friend to pull her towards certain insanity, knowing full well nothing she`d read in a textbook could save her now.

By the time the pair reached the dartboard, Ariana was paler than the great sphere in the sky that her boyfriend secretly feared.

* * *

"Worm-tail! Worm-tail! Worm-tail!"

"Wooo! Go Worms!"

"…And by the looks of it, Johnny is regretting opening that can of Worms…."

Peter grinned madly at Mel, caldron cake smeared across his face from ear to ear, delighted to have his name made into a pun.

"Come on, buddy, keep your head up, you`ve still got a chance! John-ny!" Alice belted out, jumping up and down.

Frank looked at Alice strangely. "He`s got no chance, Pete`s got him beat by twenty-two."

"Shhh, not so loud, you`ll discourage him, there`s still time for a comeback!"

"You`re a strange fish, you know that?"

"Johnny! Go, go, go! You got this, mate."

Frank shook his head, breaking into a smile, and started to clap. "Whoooo! Yeah, Johnny."

* * *

Long after the music had started up again, the columns had been lowered, and Peter had claimed his victory, a flash of red caught Mattie`s eye.

It was the first time all night she`d seen Lily without Sirius.

Mattie knew what she had to do. Lily was still her friend, and Mattie felt as if she owed it to Lily to warn her.

Dismissing the feud, she crossed the room, dodging and ducking around partygoers until she`d reached her friend, who`d been standing against the wall nursing a butterbeer. The crowd next to them looked like they were doing gillyweed, but Lily didn`t seem to notice.

The butterbeer was a good sign, since the Lily Mattie knew would never think of touching firewisky.

"Lils, I have to tell you something." Mattie said in a very small voice, almost hoping her friend wouldn`t hear. But she did, of course she did.

"Hmm?"

"Sirius….Sirius made a bet that he could make you fall in love with him by the end of the party."

Lily looked up, and quietly said, "I know."


	15. Chapter 15

Mattie was aghast. "You know?! How?"

"James told me."

* * *

_~Two hours before~_

"Isn`t fireworks a bad idea? You know, the teachers are going to find out we`re out of bed pretty fast when they check the dorms for culprits." Mused Lily, her head rested on Sirius`s arm.

He smirked. "We thought of that. We thought of everything , don`t you worry."

"Really? What did you…Oh Merlin….I don`t want to know, do I?"

"Probably not."

"Nobody is getting hurt in this grand scheme of yours, right?"

"Why would they?"

"Sirius…"

"You worry too much. Just enjoy the show, everything`s fine."

* * *

_~One hour and forty five minutes before~_

"…and honesty Remus, sometimes I think you study even more than I do." Concluded Lily.

"I wouldn`t take it that far."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Sirius interjected. "Did somebody just say the 'S' word?"

"Slytherin?" Lupin guessed, causing a nearby member of that house to glare.

"Slicing?" The Slytherin called back threateningly.

Lily stepped in between them. "Suspended?"

As the Slytherin walked away, Lupin whispered, "Stupid?"

"Saturday?" called James, totally oblivious to the exchange.

"No, that one that has to do with the 'L' word and the other 'S' word… you know…" He lowered his voice, and spat out the word like scum. "_Study._"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Sirius, you do know we`re in a schoo-"

"Don`t say it!" He gasped, clasping his hands over Lily`s mouth. "Evil, Evans. Saying their names give them power! Like You-Know-Who!"

* * *

_~One hour and thirty seven before~_

"Thirsty?"

She held up her still partially full cup from the last drink run by way of answering.

Sirius nodded, and responded, "Well, I`m gonna go get another drink. See you in a bit?"

"Alright."

Lily wandered out onto the almost completely vacant balcony, setting her cup down on the railing. She didn`t really like the punch anyway.

* * *

_~One hour and twenty five minutes before~_

Lily was beginning to wonder exactly how the boys had gotten the extraordinarily large amount of muggle fireworks to keep the show going for as long as it was when she felt the tap on her shoulder.

"Can I join you?"

James Potter was just the best friend of her date, not her arch-nemesis, Lily tried to remind herself as she allowed him to join her on the rail. Still, it was impossible for Lily to not flinch as the bane of her existence leaned next to her and stared, not at the now quiddich themed fireworks, but at her.

He was too restless, too cocky, and altogether too James. Something was a foot, and there was no point in denying that. Sighing, she just hoped he wasn`t here to ask her out again. "What do you want, Potter?"

He didn`t miss a beat. "Fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, and maybe some cheese fries. What? They`re good, Evans, don`t roll your eyes."

"Whatever. I was wondering what the pot of cheese sauce was for, not that the stuff is probably made of actual cheese…Do you know what is in that? It`s not a natural color."

"One thousand percent awesome, cheesy goodness, and that`s all that matters. I though you never judged a book by its cover."

"Do you even know what a book is? I`m impressed with your vocabulary, Potter. You`re up to two syllable words! Now say 'goodbye'."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that you do. Funny, since I`m the prime example of a victim of your prejudgment."

"I do not prejudge people!" Lily huffed, turning away to watch two firework-brooms appear in the sky.

"Really? You`ve hated me and my friends since we first stepped aboard the Hogwarts express."

"I don`t hate Sirius, Remus, or Peter."

"So I`m just special?"

"In your own demented way."

"You used to hate Sirius, too."

"I didn`t hate him. I just… vigorously disliked him."

"Now that, I don`t understand." James muttered under his breath, but Lily caught every word.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Anyone with half a brain could understand the reasons why I abhor the main tormenter of my best friend."

"First of all… I`m going to guess that word means something very rude, but pretend it means 'am madly in love with', and second of all, Sirius did something far worse than tormenting your best friend."

"What do you mean?"

"Can`t you see? He`s doing it right now. You`re so far gone you can`t even see it!"

For a moment, Lily was thrown, but she recovered quickly and demanded, "Just tell me, Potter."

"At the beginning of the term, Sirius, Pete, Lupin, and I all made a bet."

"So?"

"_So_, Black said he could get any girl he wanted to fall for him with ease. Moony and I bet against this horrifying prospect, and now he`s all but won, hours away from the deadline."

All the air seemed to disappear from Lily`s lungs, and feeling very dizzy, she could see exactly where this was going.

"It`s you, Evans. You`re the girl we bet on. He`s been playing you this whole time."

She knew instantly that Potter was telling the truth.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I don`t want you to get hurt. I really like you, Lily, I have since first year. I thought you knew that."

"No. No," Lily laughed, shaking her head. "This isn`t about me, is it? This is about you not wanting to lose that bet! You`re only telling me the truth so that I`ll be angry with Sirius and whatever you think I felt for him will be crushed. I`m not an idiot, Potter. I can see through your stupid plot, and guess what?" Lily turned her fiery glare at him, making James inch back. "I never liked Sirius that way! You all think you`re just sooo irresistible, don't you? Have you ever heard of a girl just being friends with a guy, Potter? I don`t think you could ever manage it, and apparently Black can`t either, but it does happen, just apparently not here." She snarled, before turning on her heel and pulled away.

"Lily…"

"What?" she snapped, spinning back. "Do you think I owe you something for you _oh so generously_ telling me this? Are you expecting gratitude, Potter?" Lily spat.

James just stared back, looking as if she`d slapped him.

"Good. That`s what I thought. Now leave me alone, talk to any other girl out here. I bet she`d get your _cheese fries_ for you."

* * *

_~One hour and eight minutes before~_

"Worm-tail! Worm-tail! Worm-tail!"

"Have you seen Sirius?" Lily asked, cutting her friend off mid-chant.

"I thought he was with you… no, wait, he`s over by Denis and Josh." Dorcas pointed. "Hey, stay here with me a while, I haven`t seen you all night. Pete challenged Johnny to a caldron cake eating contest..."

"Poor Johnny." She muttered distractedly, looking over Dorcas` shoulder.

Dorcas grinned ear to ear. "I know!"

"Sounds super great, look, I`ll be right back, `kay Dee?"

If Dorcas noticed the strain in Lily`s voice as she said the empty promise, she didn`t let on and just kept cheering, letting her friend walk away.

* * *

_~Fifty five minutes before~_

Now what would Mattie and Mel do?

It was too bad she couldn`t ask them. That, of course, was her own fault. Unless… had this been part of his sick plan? Severing all of her friendships so that nobody could get close enough to see what he was doing to her? Lily had almost seen it all along. Sirius had never changed, anyone could have guessed it by looking at him. Besides, reformed Mauraders don`t smell like gunpowder.

Oh, Sirius Black better know some really top notch healing spells for after she was through with him.

With that thought, what had remained of Twisted Lily shriveled and burned in a flash, and like a phoenix, Real Lily was back, and severely pissed off.

Swallowing her anger, Lily beamed and cleared all intelligent thoughts from her mind, having read in a book once that smiling makes you happier.

At this moment, she wanted to burn the book, and blast the ashes into the vacuum of space.

So she asked herself one more question; what would Lily Evans do?

The answer was suddenly crystal clear, and so when she smiled this time, it was for real.

"Hey Sirius!" Sliding up to his side, Lily looped her arm through his in a move she`d once seen Madeline pull. "Isn`t this party sooo totally awesome? I know I love it. You must have put, like, weeks of thought into it."

She could see the complements enlarging his already ginormous ego. It took all of her strength not to roll her eyes or gag. "Yeah, it is pretty epic. You should have seen how long it took for us to find this place."

"How`d you put in the balcony?"

"After ages of spells, we managed to figure out what it took to get that to explode at just the right time." Lily could sense he was lying about this, but she didn`t bother to pursue it. There were bigger problems than a little lie. "You want to go there? It`s an amazing view."

She didn`t have to fake the smile. Lily couldn`t have orchestrated it better herself. "Sure."

As Lily allowed Sirius to lead across the room, Potter caught her eye, and shook his head once in a warning. Just to spite him, she leaned closer to the Marauder that was holding his hand, and kissed him on the cheek.

"What was that for?" Sirius asked as they stepped onto the empty balcony.

Shrugging, she lied right back at him. "No reason."

* * *

_~One hour and five minutes before~_

"Natalie?"

"Hmm? Oh, Lily. Where`ve you been? Em and I were looking for you just twenty minutes ago, we needed a third for a game of darts."

"Sorry, I was watching fireworks, must have just missed you when I went out. Did you bring your wand?"

"Why?"

Lily held up her shoe, which she`d forcibly snapped the heel off of minutes before. "I tripped…"

"Ha! I told Jilly we`d need a wand. It`s in my purse, by the coatrack in that entry hall. Just put it back once you`re done with it, alright?"

"Okay, thanks a million Nat. See you later for a game of darts?"

"Definitely. Sorry about the shoe." She called as Lily made her way to the coatrack.

Under her breath, Lily mumbled, "Me too."

* * *

_~Fifty minutes before~_

"There`s something I have to tell you."

Lily hoped he was going to redeem himself by telling her, but she didn`t really think that was likely. He was Sirius Black, she was Lily Evans, and as much as either of them pretended, they were just friends who used each other to win bets and spite people. It was never anything more. "Me too. You first."

"I`m really glad you agreed to come tonight."

"Me too." She said, lying through her teeth. A figure approaching in her peripheral vision caught Lily`s attention. James Potter.

Grabbing Sirius` hands in hers, Lily widened her eyes into the most Academy Award winning, sappy love-stuck gaze she could manage. "Sirius Black, I am utterly and incandescently in love with you."

Her words hung in the air, and after counting to twenty, she checked to see if James was still there.

Yep.

After another twenty seconds, he`d vanished, and that was when Lily pushed Sirius away , whipped out Natalie`s wand, and levitated him upside-down over the edge of the balcony.

"Wha…?"

"There you go. Now that you`ve won your stupid little bet…" Lily flicked him around with every syllable, "Start begging for mercy or I might just let you fall."

He didn`t mess around with trying to lie. "Come on, Evans. Let me down."

"Oh, I`ll let you down. You like flying, Black? How about falling?"

"I`ll spilt the money with you."

"I don`t want any of James Potter`s money." She spat. "I want you to apologize for manipulating me for personal gain. I want you to apologize for this stupid bet. And most of all, I want you to apologize for making me hurt my best friends."

Sirius, who looked almost comical upside-down with his long hair hanging down a foot from his head, became serious. "Look Lily, I`m sorry for manipulating you and getting you involved in all of this, you were never meant to wind up mad at anyone but me."

"You`re forgetting a bit."

"Evans, I know you don`t want to hear this, but I didn`t do anything to sabotage your friendships. You did that all on your own."

Again, someone had to point out something she`d known all along but refused to believe. He was right, of course. That was entirely her own fault.

"Hey, if you need someone to blame it on to make you feel any better, I`m willing to except the blame."

Lily smiled weakly. "Thanks, but I think I should handle this myself. Are we even?"

"You aren't mad at me?"

"Nah, threatening your life kind of took most of that out of my system. Besides, I totally just used you to spite Potter just now. As long as you don`t tell him you know, I have bigger problems to deal with. Besides, I really should have known Marauders never change."

"Excellent. See you about?"

"Maybe."

* * *

"I couldn`t bring myself to talk to her." Lily told Mattie, concluding her tale. "I was feet away, but I just couldn`t think of anything reasonable to say."

"It`s okay." Mattie said, not able to stop herself from continuing the rhyme just a little bit more. "I forgive you. Alice will understand too. Things just went too far, and you got blinded from what really matters by tricks and webs of lies."

"I can`t believe I did that. Some best friend I am." Lily muttered hoarsely.

"Lils, I`m telling you, it will all be okay. You know what you did, and I know Alice well enough to be sure that she`s going to forgive you eventually."

"Eventually?"

Mattie patted her on the head. "I`d invest in a large bag of chocolate frogs."

"Large? Oh Merlin, it really is that bad?"

"You can ask her yourself. Stay here." She ordered.

* * *

"Good business." James fumed to himself.

"Problem, mate?" Remus inquired, knowing his friend`s mutterings were never a good sign.

Restraining himself, James mumbled through his teeth, "I hope you got your galleons together for the Evans thing. Padfoot just won."

"Siriusly?"

"Not helping."

"Sorry, I`m just shocked he pulled it off. How do you know, are he and Pete collecting now? I don`t have any money with me."

"No, I just witnessed Evans profess her love. They`re probably still snogging on the balcony if you don`t want to take my word for it.

"Tough luck, Prongs. Are you this broken up over loosing, or is it because….?"

James rolled his eyes. "Take a wild guess."

"Right. You`re still in love with her. Sorry."

Nobody needed to specify who "her" was.

* * *

"Lily?"

Taking her head out of her hands, Lily was face to face with the person she most feared at the moment. "Alice?"

"Are you okay? Mat told me what happened."

Lily, realizing she was talking about the Sirius (but not so serious at the moment) thing, waved it off. "I`m alright, it was just heartless affections. No biggie."

"Oh."

After two beats of pause, Lily took the metaphorical leap of faith. "I`m sorry. It was stupid. _I_ was stupid. I should have paid more attention to what was going on with you."

Alice nodded.

"It`s….. well, it`s not completely alright, I`d prefer if you didn`t do it again, but I know it`s just one of those things you can`t control. Lils, you`re my best friend in the world, but when anything stressful is going on in your world, like a test or something, you have a tendency to get really blind to other people. It`s unintentional, I`m sure. But it still hurts, Lily."

"I`m sorry. I try, I really do."

"Not always."

Lily slumped. "I know."

"It`s okay." Alice stated, and suddenly it was. "Now, let`s not waste a perfectly good party by sitting over here, yeah?"

"Yeah." Lily said, helping Alice up.

"Oh, and Mattie said something about you sending me a hundred apology chocolate frogs?"

"Yeah…"

**A/N: ****Since this is the second to last chapter and all, I have a few questions to ask you before this ends. Were the set weekly updates a good idea? Would you like me to have a set regular update for future multi-chapter stories? Also, do you have any suggestions for anything I could do better (writing or update wise)? I`d really appreciate if you could let me know your thoughts on this, thanks!**


	16. Chapter 16

All of the teachers suspected the usual four delinquents when Severus Snape was trapped in a rug early the next morning. When he was later interviewed in the hospital wing, all the fourth year had to offer for the investigation was a huff of "POTTER!" before he swiftly passed out due to exhaustion.

"The poor boy, treading quicksand all night." Madame Pomfrey said, ushering the teachers out. "He needs his rest."

From the hospital wing, Professor McGonagall went to the Gryffindor common room, going right for the source. As she passed students in the hall, whom she noticed there was few and far between (unusual for the Saturday breakfast crowd) she heard their whispers. As a teacher, the first thing you learn is that the most honest information you`ll ever get out of a student is what they say when they think you`re not listening. Minerva always listened.

"Uh-oh. Heads are gonna roll."

"She`s doing her serious business walk! Don`t look her in the eyes, everybody outta the way!"

"Sirius business is right. Black and co are really in for it this time."

"Do you think we could shovel some food down in time to catch some of the action?"

"How could she possible know?"

"Maybe she saw… do you think she would polyjuice potion herself into a student?"

People had always told her she should have been a Ravenclaw, but it was moments like this, as she could barely keep from smiling to herself, that she felt the most brilliant. This time, the boys were, beyond the shadow of a doubt, guilty.

"Mr. Pettigrew, where do you think you`re going?" Minerva McGonagall asked, frightening the daylights out of everyone within earshot.

He froze, as her words seemed to shock him out of his morning daze. "B-b-breakfast, Professor."

"At eleven o`clock? Usually you`re one of the first to the tables."

"Er, umm…"

"Not heading to the kitchens, I would hope? You`d best come with me."

"Professor, I haven`t done anything…"

Her gaze silenced him, as if he could see his felony reflected in her perfectly polished glasses. Without her even having to say a word, Peter followed her back to the common room, only falling behind a bit as they entered.

Surprisingly, the Gryffindor common room was not in a state of utter collapse or disarray. Originally, Minerva had assumed that there must have been a Gryffindor party of which the Snape boy had been trying to warn the teachers about, but now she was unsure of this assumption. The room was in too good of condition for it to have been recently cleaned by miscreants of this magnitude. No, she`d seen their work before, and this was not it. Something else was afoot.

"Professor?"

Lily Evans stood at the bottom of the stairs to the girl`s dorms, and even she looked a tad uncharacteristically disheveled.

"Is something wrong?"

McGonagall`s stare softened slightly. If there had been a party, Lily Evans would surely not have been a part of it. Late night studying, Minerva concluded, must be the reason for her drowsy demeanor.

"Nothing to be concerned with, Miss Evans. Hold up a moment," The professor recalled something she`d once heard Slughorn say in one of his long boastful tales. "Severus Snape is a close friend of yours, correct?"

"Yes."

"He was admitted to the hospital wing this morning with…"

"I`m sorry, Professor I have to… Thank you." Lily was out of the room in a flash, her face as pale as Nearly Headless Nick.

Peter started to quaver, probably, McGonagall guessed, having caught on to what he was in for. As the pair walked the hallway to his dorm, Peter fell back again, but McGonagall knew he was still there as she opened the door.

"Gentlemen, if you please." The professor said. None of the three lumps stirred.

With a flick of her wand, the drapes covering the windows next to Remus` bed shot aside. "Mr. Lupin!"

Another flick. "Mr. Potter!"

With a final movement of her wand, blinding light shot in from the final two windows . "Mr. Black!"

Lupin didn`t move. James shoved a pillow on his head and moaned something she could only translate as "Muuu-ney!", whereas Sirius Black shot up, hand reaching for his wand. "Oi…Hello, Minnie dear. Why have you stopped in to visit our humble abode at such an ungodly hour? Moony, what hour is it anyway?"

Remus didn`t reply, but Peter helpfully offered, "Eleven."

"Eleven? Oh, Merlin, we must have overslept due to that phenomenal all night study session where Lupin taught us all sorts of big, fancy words like phenomenal. Up, up, you roaches! Don`t you see we have a guest?!" Black sprung out of his bed and into Potter`s, shoved his friend off onto the floor, and then hopped over to Remus and did the same. "The day is slipping through our fingers, up, up!"

Minerva McGonagall thought she`d seen it all, and maybe now she finally had. Standing in the doorway with crossed arms, she watched as Sirius lifted each of his friends, pushing and prodding the three of them into a line, and put their hands at their heads in a salute, as if they were standing at attention. He mirrored this pose, and tried to smile as innocently as possible, and ultimately failed miserably.

Ignoring their insolence, she continued as if everything was average, a technique she`d developed and perfected over the boy`s four years.

"Early this morning a fourth year Slytherin was found trapped in a rug. Do any of you have any idea how he might have gotten there?"

"Is he alright?" Remus asked when he realized his friends were not going to.

"The boy will recover. In the meantime, I am investigating the night's occurrences to figure out what might have caused him to be trapped as he was. Would any of you have something to do with this?"

"No, ma`am." Potter replied, as the others looked on with big, innocent eyes, that McGonagall figured they`d practiced. As she turned to him, who she`d given detentions to countless times for pantsing or dueling with the Snape boy in the halls, she was preparing herself to demote one hundred points from Gryffindor. What she saw in James Potter`s eyes changed her mind.

It was something she`d never seen before on the face of any of the so called 'Marauders'. Not joy, not disappointment, not anger, not victory nor mischief. It was sorrow. What did this boy have to be sad about? Surely nothing if he was up all night trapping this Slytherin and causing trouble.

Which clearly must mean they, against all other previous assumptions, were innocent?

Peering at them over the top of her spectacles, McGonagall warned, "Pray that I do not find even the slightest evidence that any of you lied to me when I talk to Mr. Snape, for it you have, each of you will receive a months` worth of detentions, and possibly face expulsion if the headmaster deems it so."

With that, she business-walked out, not looking back.

If Minerva McGonagall had, say, lingered by the door a moment longer, she might have heard the collective breath all the boys let out, and wondered why they`d all been holding their breath, perhaps reconsidering her earlier decision of innocence. If she`d stayed to listen even longer, she would have most definitely heard the incriminating conversation they had right after.

But she was indeed gone, and the Marauders would live to prank another day.

* * *

"…And THAT is why we have the rule about carrying the mirror on solo missions."

"You could have warned us, Black. Nice work though, Wormy. Hey, did you get any food before she snatched you?"

"Nah, she got me before I could reach the kitchens."

"Anybody else want some wake-up juice? Plenty to go around. Prongs, you look like you could use a good chug."

"Oh, the adrenaline is sobering enough, thanks. Next time, could you pass some out before she bust in on us?"

"It looked more realistic with the two of you out cold."

"Why did she let us go?"

"Because of my quick thinking."

"Because _I_ tipped you off!"

"No, no didn`t you see? She wasn`t falling for any of that, she was right about to haul us to Dumbledore, but then she just… stopped."

"Moony, what do I always say?"

"That you`re a 'romance seer', which is complete-"

"Besides that."

"Umm…'the library is eating away your soul'?"

"Wormtail, help the boy out please."

"Is it 'When you go Black, you never go back'?"

"Prongs, you know what I`m talking about, right?"

"In their defense, you have a different quote for every day of the week."

"Humph. Gents, take notes if you must, it`s…"

"But you said 'taking notes is for suck-ups and the library dementors'."

"FINE, just pay attention! This is the money stuff for when you all co-write my biography about how I was before I became the Dictator of the Universe! What I was looking for was, 'Never question miracles'."

"I`ve never heard you say that."

"Me neither."

"Well, now I`ve said it. Anyway, heed my words! Don`t shake your head at me, Moony, I saw that."

"One of these days Black, I swear, you`re gonna be hauled off to Azkaban by an angry mob."

"That`s why I keep you vermin around, to lead the mission to break me out."

"It would be a favor to humanity if we left you in there. Each of us would get knighted, or an Order of Merlin, First Class."

"You`d go insane without me."

"We go insane _with_ you."

* * *

"Hold it right there, Lillian." The perfectly manicured hand digging into Lily`s shoulder and the icy voice held her in place more than the hand of the size 0 Hufflepuff ever could.

"That`s not my name." Lily said, putting all of the confidence she`d gained in the days since that night she`d dropped her drink. "It`s Lily. Say it with me now, L-illl-eeee. Just Lily."

"So," Madeline said, "Are you proud of yourself?"

"For what says on my birth certificate? Yes, I`m glad my name is not in fact not Lillian."

"Don`t insult my intelligence, you little tart. I may not be a Ravenclaw like Ariana, who I am surprised hasn`t caught on to your scheme by now, and if you hurt her to so help me…"

"I`m not going to hurt Ariana!"

Madeline scoffed. "Mmhmm. Just like you didn`t mean to steal my boyfriend."

"What twisted mind do you have that would have ever imagined me being interested in _Potter_?"

"The same one that witnessed you manipulate him and Black into falling for you and then totally ditching me! What was it, a love potion? Lust potion? Imperious?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I never did anything to either of them. Si-you know what, that doesn`t even matter. All you need to know is, I don`t care for Sirius and I positively detest Potter. Madeline, just the mention of your ex makes me gag. I was only nice to that slimeball briefly because of Sirius, and let me tell you, that will never, ever, ever happen again. I`m surprised anyone at all is interested in him, due to his hugely repulsive ego and horribly nasty personality. In my opinion, even _you _deserve better than him, and I think you`re a bit insane and mostly just a typical popular snake, only one that`s been given inexplicable brains. If you want that roach, he`s more than yours. Oh, and I`d recommend giving him a vat of cheese sauce the next time you see him. He`ll forgive you instantly and love you forever, due to his shallow mind and bottomless stomach." Lily nodded with lackluster enthusiasm, before taking off for her common room, just daring Madeline to follow, which she didn`t.

* * *

Forty eight, forty nine… at the creak of the floorboards behind her, Lily jumped, sending the box of chocolate frogs scattering all over Alice`s bed. Quickly, she spun around, wand at the ready to temporarily obviate a memory in order to preserve the surprise.

"Oh, it`s you. Get out of here. Who let you up, anyway? Don`t answer that, I don`t care which seventh year you shacked up with this time." She turned back to arranging the frogs to spell out "SORRY" on the bed.

James ran his hand though is hair. "Hello to you too. For your information…"

"…don`t want it, you sleaze…"

"I didn`t 'shack up' with anyone last night."

"Oh no! What`s wrong, Potter," Lily asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she feigned concern, "Do you think you`re too ill from all those diseases you`ve caught by now, because that`s never stopped you before… Oh, or maybe you`re just taking the night off, because you wanted to try and remember what virginity felt like, because it`s been sooo long, right?"

"Lily, I wanted to apologize about the other night…"

"_Don`t _call me 'Lily'. My friends call me Lily, or Lils, or almost anything they want, but you only get Evans, got it? You are _not_ my friend. You are just a creepy stalker who is busting into my room…"

"Technically, Ev, it`s Alice, Mary, Mel, and Mattie`s room too, all of whom are my friends."

"Don`t 'Ev' me either, and Alice isn`t your friend, she`s mine!"

"People can have more than just one friend, you know. Plus, she`s also my cousin, so I knew her first."

"She is?-Oh, yeah, that's right, all you purebloods are related…" Lily didn`t try to hide her shudder of disgust at the thought of being related to James, who ignored her and kept talking.

"Anyway, so about last night… I didn`t, _don`t_ care about the bet. I was purely…"

"…You don't know pure. How many diseases…"

"…Thinking of you. Because I care about you, Evans."

"I heard about what you did to Severus. That was a dirty rotten trick you pulled…"

"-Stop changing the subject here, I`m trying to tell you something…"

"….Maybe if you paid attention to what I was saying you'd notice that _I don`t care_…" Lily said, voice rising as she sang the last three words.

"LILY EVANS, I LOVE YOU!"

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT TO SEV?" Lily belted back, not allowing his words to register, not now or ever.

James faltered, thrown by her reaction to his confession, as if his love meant nothing to her. Did she understand he could have any girl in the school…any girl but her, that is?

"He was going to snitch on the party. Besides, _I _didn`t do it, per say…"

"Do you know who`s name he shouted when the brought him to the hospital wing? Huh? Do ya? Yours, Potter. I talked to Madame Pomfrey when I went to see him, and…"

"I`d never bother him again if you`d just say my name."

The chocolate frog surprise completely forgotten, Lily crossed her arms and smirked. "I just did, less than ten seconds ago, you roach."

"No, my real name. Just call me James, Lily. Please. That`s all I ask."

"Yeah, that`s all, until you`re begging me again to be your _bride_."

"Only if you want to be!"

"Forget it, Potter. Don`t you get it? I don`t love you. I`ll _never _love you. Not in a million years. And you know why? Because Marauders never change. Everyone knows that. No matter what I do, you`ll just keep asking more and more, using my friends to get to me like you are right now with Sev, because it`s all just some big game to you, one ginormous _bet_! Maybe if you could see past your larger than life ego, you might notice that sometimes there`s more to lose than money!"

"I told you, I don`t care about the money, why would I? I have loads. All I care about is you!"

"So you`re just after me because you can`t have me, isn`t that right you nearsighted termite?"

"No, no, that`s not it at all! I`d give all the money away just for you. Lily, please try to understand…"

"The way you understand how to leave a girl alone?"

"…I`ve been in love with you since the very moment I saw you. It was like the first time I was on a broom, I knew in that one beautiful moment of flying that no matter how hard I try, I will never be able to look at everything else as anything near as fast and horrifyingly wonderful, so everything-at-once, so whenever I`m on a train, or in a classroom, all I can think of is of what it felt like to fly."

"There is no such thing as love at first sight. There is lust at first sight, though, and I`m not surprised you feel that, what with you chasing everything with a skirt…"

"Lily, I know-"

"Don`t call me that."

"…that you would understand what I mean if you would just give me a chance!"

James threw his arms up to punctuate, accidentally knocking down a stack of Lily`s library books. Instead of giving a remark about him controlling his ape arms, which was what she had been about to say, Lily stared directly into James` eyes and promise one thing, her voice as cold as ice.

"I can promise you this, Potter: as long as I live, I will _never_ give you a chance. I will never love you."

With that, Lily Evans pushed him out of her room (and her life) with one massive shove, partially aided by the fact that her declaration threw James off balance, and shut her door on him forever, physically and metaphorically.

Or so she thought.

It could have been the end, and in many ways it was… but for the most crucial aspect of this tale, it was only just the beginning.

Lily Evans had always hated the color orange.

* * *

**A/N: ...And that`s all, folks (well, not exactly, but I`ll get to that). I`m really happy about the way this story came out. It`s been a particularly spectacular day for me, so it`s hard to be sad about the ending of this...and it`s exceptionally hard, because I know this ending is just a segue for another great beginning... a beginning which, in fact, has already started (but more on that in a moment).**

**In response to TurquoiseTeddy, I agree it would be easier for everyone if I just put all the chapters up at once, but then it kind of defeats the point of dividing the story up into chapters, plus there would be a bit more stress on me to write faster in order to keep up regular posting.**

** Speaking of regular posting, I have decided to keep on with the frequent chapters (I just am not sure of a schedule yet).**

**But where, you might be asking, will these chapters be for?**

**Yesterday, I posted the prologue of a brand new story, Never Never, which is a sequel to Heartless Affections. It switches back and forth between the perspectives of Lily and James, starting the winter break of their sixth year. The first real chapter will be up in the next week or so. If you haven`t I`d recommend reading The Cliched Challenge (about a catastrophic bet in sixth year, centering around Lily and her roommates)before hand to give you some context for Never Never.  
**

**Thanks for reading!**


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